Vortex Ventures
by Teller16-djb
Summary: The Lich, now re-re-re-reawakened, is back with a plot to not only take over Ooaa, but Earth along with it. Team Ooaa, along with a few others, travel to the real world to stop him from finding the Power Stones. Meanwhile fitting into modern times isn't so easy when 2D meets 3D. Part 3 of the Mixed Dimensions trilogy.
1. Prologue: Back To The Past

Plot Summery: The Lich, now re-re-re-reawakened, is back with a plot to not only take over Ooaa, but Earth along with it. Team Ooaa, along with a few others, travel to the real world to stop him from finding the Power Stones. Meanwhile fitting into modern times isn't so easy when 2D meets 3D. Part 3 of the Mixed Dimensions trilogy.

A/N:

Teller16-djb & Brenda: Welcome to the Odyssey!

Clockwork: Why can't you two ever come up with anything normal?

Brenda: Would you really want us to be normal?

Clockwork: I suppose not.

Teller16-djb: Most of you are probably just starting your vaction. Congrats on making it through yet another school year.

Brenda: And happy 4th of July everyone.

Teller16-djb: We finally got a new keyboard, but our parents are making us use it when they're around only. That being said, updates are going to be vary questionable this season. Let's get this thing started for you peeps. The story kicks off directly where we left them last. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

-PREVIOUSLY ON PORTAL PROBLEMS-

"I have underestimated you Shawn Parker," the Lich spoke. "But that is one mistake I will never make again. You have more power than you realize and hopefully in time, you will see things my way."

"I will _never_be like you," Shawn growled. "And _neither_will Star. We _will_stop you."

"What hope is there for you now? You foolish children have no idea what you have unleashed. And this time, I think I'll take this game to a more realistic level. See you at home Shawn Parker and Natasha Parton."

The Lich created and jumped into a toxic green portal and jumped inside, leaving the kids in a worried wonder.

Adventure Time Mixed Dimensions

Part 3: Vortex Ventures

Prologue: Back To The Past

Shawn's POV

"What…have you done," I asked.

"We didn't have a choice," Ice Princess said. "How many times do we have to go over this?"

Out of the blue, Natasha just…flipped out. She tried to attack the Ice Kids but I held her back. The two Royals didn't make things easier because they stood ready to face her. Now of all times. Finally she calmed down.

"What was that about," I wondered.

"I don't know," Natasha replied. "Something just came over me."

"Was it a brain, knowing your world is in danger and not ours," Ice Princess egged her on.

"Now I remember. It was _rage_!"

Again, they tried to fight. This time Ice Prince helped me out with keeping them from killing each other. This is good because these two already don't like each other to begin with and they gave us a lot of struggling to get them to calm down.

"Both our worlds are in danger," Ice Prince told. "Their world created our world. So if their world goes, we go along with it."

"We need to get back to the Candy Kingdom ASAP," I said.

"We'll never make it there fast enough on foot," Natasha pointed out.

Once again, she was right. It would take us way too long to get there running and walking. The Ice Royals could just fly but Natasha and I would be stuck. Time was already short but who really knows how much more of it we have until things start falling apart.

"Think you could freeze us a path," I asked.

They took my advice and we rode back to the kingdom. Jumping inside the window of the Invention Room, I sat down with my friends and watched the Gum Royals finish the time machine.

"Shawn," Gumball asked tightening a screw.

"Yes Bazooka?"

"You didn't get rid of the Lich like we discussed."

"Yeah, about that-"

"Do you have any idea what this means," Bubblegum connected two parts.

"We know where he's going, what he's after-"

"But not where he ended up. The machine is missing just one component. Do any of you have the topaz?"

Ice Princess threw it to her, ignoring the glares Natasha sent her.

"You four need to go back home and stop him before he gets those stones," PB instructed.

"What do you mean four," Finn asked. "I'm coming too."

"Oh no you don't," PG stopped him. "Ooo and Aaa was one thing. Them in Ooaa was another. But who knows what could happen if you go _there_."

"What choice do we have," Natasha questioned. "We're going to need all the help we can get if we're facing a guy who can brush off and explosion like dust."

The door burst open but we didn't pay attention to it because the machine came to life. Gumball pushed them in while PB gave me a bag the kids made Natasha.

"Wait," Marshall Lee, the person who came in with Marcelline, said. "What's going on here?"

"No time," Gumball screamed. "Get in the portal!"

"But," Marcelline tried.

"Shut up and go!"

He pushed them in and I jumped in after them.

A/N:

Teller16-djb: This is by far the longest prologue I've posted here.

Clockwork: Did anyone catch what Lumpy Space Princess said about being Fionna and Cake's "Papa"?

Brenda: And remember what Fishlegs said about Sean's "kids".

Teller16-djb: I love non-important-at-the-time Easter Eggs. Confusion is my favorite life tool. Next to my Kadaj. I love using my Kadaj.

Brenda: When did you use that recently?

Teller16-djb: There's only one threat our Esoteric family has at the moment. Only one other person on this site knows who. And its because this dangerous guy keeps messing with them, Clockwork's kept me busy on Esoteric recruits for the past, um…two months.

Brenda: We'll talk more about this next chapter.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	2. Chapter 1: Where We Would Walk

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Welcome back to Chappelle's Show.

Clockwork: It's Adventure Time.

Teller16-djb: Already? But we didn't start the chapter yet.

Clockwork: I mean the-Never mind.

Teller16-djb: These next two chapters are my personal favorite in the story.

Brenda: Do any of you readers know what the Adventure Time Theory is? If you don't than you're in for a special pair of chapters.

Teller16-djb: Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Key: [ ] = Animal Speech

Chapter 1: Where We Would Walk

Shawn's POV

As soon as I landed, I started coughing. I was in a small, grimy space. I crawled to the light I saw, stood up and looked around. I was back in my room. On Earth! But, looking around, I didn't see anyone. Nobody was there but me.

"Crap," I thought aloud. "They must've sent me back too late."

I turned on the communicator hoping to get some answers.

"Hello? Bubblegum? Gumball? Somebody? Anybody."

I Shut it off and looked around again. Nothing looked like an apocalypse. Dusty sure, but not completely ancient. It was night by the look of the window but and blue and red flashing light came into view. I opened the curtain and saw two police cars outside. And my parents. They were saying something that obviously upset my mom. Dad looked like he had things covered though. They both got in our silver colored 2009 Hyundai Sonata, and the cops escorted them wherever they were going. When I heard the door open, I released my duel swords.

"Take it easy," Star said. "It's only me."

"Sorry," I retracted my swords. "I thought you were the Lich."

"Nah. I can't even find him. He's not in the house but he can't be far."

"Did you see anybody else in the house?"

"No one."

My phone started ringing. Star looked at it and threw it to me.

"You're not gonna believe who it is," she said.

"Who," I asked, not even thinking to check the caller-ID.

"Answer it."

I pressed the button and took the call.

"Hello," I asked.

"We need to talk," came Natasha's voice.

"Natasha? What's up?"

My mind was torn between what I knew happened and what I hoped didn't happen. Odds are, Ooaa was just a dream. To be sure of whether it was or wasn't, I tried to see if she remembered anything.

"Weird question," she started. "Do you remember a bunch of cartoons characters…talking to you?"

"Whew," I laughed. "I thought Ooaa was just a dream."

"Because me talking to you wasn't enough of a hint," Star shook her head.

"Just playing it safe. Natasha, did anyone land at your place?"

"I don't know. I didn't land back at my house because I wasn't in my house when I left."

"But you landed back where you were before you left, right," Star asked her.

"Yes. I also have the Topaz. That doesn't explain where the others are though."

"I think I might know where they are," I told them. "You and Nova meet us at the cemetery."

"The cemetery? Why?"

"I need to check something."

I hung up the phone and Star and I went downstairs. When I opened the door, I closed it again.

"What now," Star questioned impatiently.

"Did you happen to hear what my parents were talking to the police for," I wondered.

"They're taking your parents to look for you in Maine."

'They're looking for me,' I thought. 'But…I didn't think anyone would-'

"Hey. We're on a bit of a timeline."

"Sorry."

We ran out the house, after I locked the door of course, and made out way to the cemetery. Think about this for a moment. Where would you go in your town if you wanted to find a scattered group ofTen minutes later we were standing in front of Natasha and Nova. I handed Natasha her new bag and a shovel, Star and Nova a shovel each, opened the gates and we warily walked to a hill.

"Hello," I called.

"Mind telling us why we're here," Natasha asked.

"After you guys went in, a pair of vampires went before I jumped in."

[V-v-vampires,] Nova repeated. [I think I'd rather stay back at the gate.]

I looked at him with wide eyes. Instead of the slightly timid voice I was used to hearing out of Nova, all I heard were meows.

"Well Nova lost his powers," Natasha picked up. "I couldn't understand him the whole walk here."

"Don't worry Nova," Star reassured him. "They don't bite. Well, much."

"Especially since they don't exist," Natasha shook her head.

She tried walking away but a hand popped up and grabbed her ankle.

"Zombie," she screamed.

Falling to the ground, she gripped her shovel and clobbered the hand. Another one burst from the ground and waved for her to stop. Either she didn't care, didn't notice or was completely freaked out because Natasha kept womping on the hand with the shovel. Star pressed her ear to the ground.

"You hear that," she asked.

Nova followed her lead and pressed his ear against the dirt. He gasped, turning his attention to Natasha; who had not once stopped hitting the hands. Nova pounced her, making the shovel fall. The hands grabbed the shovel and dug at their spot. Natasha didn't look to happy with the little tabby.

[Sorry,] he cringed. [L-look. I don't think it's a zombie.]

Nova was right, it wasn't a zombie. The hands threw the shovel and pulled the rest of them up. It was Marceline. Following her was Marshal Lee.

"So that's where vampires come from."

They all looked at me with a deadpanned expression.

"Not the time?"

"[Not the time,]" they repeated.

"On the up side, we found both of them. So maybe the others came here in pairs."

"Can somebody tell us what's going on here," the Vampire Queen asked.

"Lich," Star answered simply.

Their eyes widened. They understood how bad this was to as small an extent as anyone. Then, they looked around at the cemetery.

"Is it me, or does Ooaa look a lot different than a half hour ago," Marshall Lee wondered.

[We-we're…o-on E-E-Earth,] Nova hid behind Natasha.

"Before the Mushroom War?! What the-Aw! Come on!"

I figured since they cold turn into a giant bat, the Vampires could understand animals. Marshall flew away, still within our view, and had his temper tantrum. Star and I laughed at him, Marceline shook her head in disapproval, Natasha looked weirded out by him and Nova was shaking behind Natasha.

"What's his problem with Earth," Natasha questioned defensively.

"Bad memories," Marceline floated. "Who are they Wolfy?"

"Natasha, Nova, this is Marceline the Vampire Queen," I introduced.

[Qu-_Queen_,] Nova's eyes widened.

Marceline had her natural mischievous look plastered on her face, which proved my theory in the worst possible way. Star noticed and stood in front of them.

"Don't," she told the Royal.

"Marshall," I called to stop another one of their long arguments. "We gotta get the others now!"

"I'm coming," he called, floating back to us.

"Where to now," Star asked me.

"Finn, Jake, Fionna, Cake, Ice Princess And Ice Prince," I labeled.

"I think I know where the Ice Heads are," Natasha piped up.

"And I know where Finn and Fionna are. Okay, Natasha, Vampires, you guys find the Ice Royals. Star, Nova and I will get the others."

"I don't want to get them," Natasha gritted.

"Than you should've stayed quiet," I stood up.

I gestured for Star and Nova to follow. When we made it down the hill, I stopped and turned back.

"Don't suck her blood Vampires," I called.

"We won't," they replied.

"Meet us at the hospital!"

"Why," they all wondered.

"Just trust me!"

A/N:

Brenda: Now what's going on?

Teller16-djb: What do you mean?

Brenda: Who's the dangerous person?

Teller16-djb: Right now it's you. But the one I was talking about earlier was RJ.

Brenda: The raccoon?

Teller16-djb: See Clockwork? I'm not the only one who was confused.

Clockwork: Well you're a loss cause. I didn't believe you.

Brenda: Who's RJ?

Teller16-djb: Ask him. It's his fault he's back.

Clockwork: Richard Jones, or RJ as Sean keeps calling him, was the first Teller.

Teller16-djb: And we'll be right back with RJ's back story after this. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!


	3. Chapter 2: Theory's Result

Key: [ ] = Animal Speech

Chapter 2: Theory's Result

No One's POV

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

Everything was dark and cold. Everything hurt. He wasn't mobile, so his mind tried readjusting to the situation. Hastily, Finn opened his eyes. The bio-luminescent ceiling light blinded Ooo's hero. Shutting his eyes quicker than he opened them, he tried again slowly. Since the light wasn't made by fire, he thought he was in the Candy Kingdom.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

Looking around, Finn saw that the whole room besides the furniture was white. There were five grey chairs set up around him. A wooden desk with a computer was set up to his right. To his left was a metal desk, slightly smaller than his height level, next to a white curtain. Seeing the desk made him realize he had been lying down, with Jake just at his feet.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

The door burst open, reveling Shawn and Nova, with Star in their human form.

"Oh thank Glob," Shawn breathed. "You guys are alright. Where's Cake and Fionna?"

"Shawn," a weak voice asked.

Shawn pulled back the curtain to show Fionna and Cake the same way Finn and Jake looked.

"What happened," she asked.

"I field that one," a woman said before Shawn could answer. "We found you both across the street, and you just…collapsed."

The lady was taller than the Vampires but only by a few centimeters. She had brown hair that was tied into two pony-tails. She had blue eyes and wore an orange work skirt under her lab coat with black sandal-like heals. The lab coat itself had a nametag which read, ~Dr. Beatrice Summers M.D.~.

"Now then," she clicked her pen. "You said you three know them. Let's start with their names."

"This is Finn Mertens, my cousin, and his dog Jake," Shawn explained.

In this world, Jake was a blonde Bulldog-Pug mix.

"And this is Fionna…Parton, Natasha Parton's long lost sister, and her cat Cake," Star explained, listening to Nova.

In this world, Cake was a white Persian with light blonde spots.

"Uh-huh," Dr. Summers wrote down the information. "You two don't appear to be in any serious pain. There were now fractures in your bones, no bruises or sprains. The only thing that could've caused it was…possibly a minor heat stroke. Other than that, I say you should be fine to go home in another half-hour or so just to play it safe."

Dr. Summers left them in the room. The perfectly synced heart monitors for Fionna and Finn were the only noise that could be heard. They looked to Shawn as if he had the answers. Generally he did, this time being no exception.

"There's this thing called the Adventure Time Theory," he finally spoke. "It basically says that Ooo, Aaa and Ooaa are a coma dream Finn had in this world."

"But we were there," Finn reminded them. "We all saw it."

"I know. I didn't write the theory. But this is what reality does. It justifies thing we don't understand. Much like Princess Bubblegum. Wanna know the worst part? It's not that Nova, Cake and Jake lost their powers, or that the Lich is loose-"

[But that is a huge part,] Cake stretched.

"-the worst thing is that Ooaa is…Ooaa's gone."

"[What,]" everyone, even the others who just enter asked.

"It's gone alright?! I tried to get a signal, but it didn't work! Stupid communicator!"

Shawn pressed it three times before a diamond shaped projection materialized in front of them.

"Greetings," it spoke. "I am the Optional Multi Examining Gamma Assistant, or O-M-E-G-A."

"OMEGA," Shawn said.

"As of late, my prime directive you information about the Power Stones you acquire. Hold out the Power Stone you wish to have scanned."

"Should we," Natasha asked, pulling the topaz from her pocket.

"What else is there to do Nova says," Star replied, acting as Nova's translator.

OMEGA zoomed around the stone before traveling back to Shawn's watch.

"The Topaz of Time has the ability to send the user to any time period they request upon thought."

"We know," Natasha sighed impatiently.

"Even if the user has the stone on their person, in pocket for example, just by thinking a time point the user will be transported, via portal or instantaneous if the will is strong."

"We didn't know that," Shawn mocked Natasha.

"Since the topaz follows the rules and principles of time travel, the user must use extreme caution as not to alter the past and change the present. The Topaz of Time's hidden ability is to bring to the present, and army of the users past and future lives."

[If OMEGA knows so much about the stones,] Jake thought a loud, [maybe it'll tell us where the other ones are. It'd save us a bunch of work.]

"You're so lazy," Star told him. "But you do have a point. OMEGA, can you tell us where the other Power Stones are?"

"Checking data for response. Error. I am not programmed with knowledge of the Power Stones whereabouts. However the Power Stones themselves act as maps. When the stones are in close range of each other, they emit a light from their core. The closer they are, the more light they emit."

[Like at the waterfall cave,] Cake reminded them. [When you two put the stones together, didn't it get brighter?]

"When was this," Marceline asked.

"A few days ago," Star responded.

"So," Fionna said. "What now?"

A/N:

Teller16-djb: We now return to the RJ story with Morgan Freeman. I mean Father Time. Eh, close enough.

Clockwork: Richard Jones was the first recruit for the Teller program. It turned out her wasn't exactly the best choice-

Teller16-djb: You messed up. You messed up.

Clockwork: Long story short he's an archangel that has it out for Sean.

Teller16-djb: Now that that's taken care of…

Brenda: Writer Challenge Time!

Teller16-djb: The other day I saw the episode of the show called _The Vault_. So it got me thinking of the other versions of Finn that's been mentioned. I asked Clockwork what would've happened if Finn met a few of his counterparts at the same time.

Clockwork: The counterparts he asked about were Farmworld Finn, Fionna and Shoko.

Brenda: What was the result?

Teller16-djb: Not good. There wasn't a situation that even I could've thought up that made it end well.

Clockwork: What does this have to do with the challenge?

Teller16-djb: I give this idea to any writer who wishes. Just PM me to let me know if you're willing to adopt this and if you need help. Good luck, good writing, and…

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See you around!


	4. Chapter 3: Stone Shadows

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Since this Earth isn't like the one you readers live in, there's only one part of the story that's different from the reality.

Clockwork: But you're going to have to wait until that part comes to find out what it is.

Brenda: Here's hint one: That chapter takes place in New York.

Teller16-djb: Until the chapter arrives, we'll give you three hints. If you guess it right, the prize is that you got it right.

Clockwork: That's not much of a prize.

Teller16-djb: Oh well. In a couple of chapters, this season of the show starts. When that happens, things get a little out of control on Earth. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Key: [ ] = Animal Speech

Chapter 3: Stone Shadows

No One's POV

The next morning came like any other. The only difference was location. As they discovered, Earth was different from Ooaa. The human population was up, the monster population was down. The world seemed to be even more peaceful than Ooaa. Natasha came up with the idea that the guys stay at Shawn's house and the girls stay at her's. Jeffrey seemed to be alright with it, mostly since her family was out of town for various reasons. Each of them had there own thoughts of what was to happen.

Finn and Fionna were amazed at how many humans there were. Back in their world, they were the only known humans. They were now surrounded by their own kind. Jake was mainly worried about his kids and Lady Rainacorn. Shawn told them the world was destroyed so the motivation to get his family back kept him going. Cake was afraid she'd never get her powers back. Being more that she wasn't able to protect the others, mostly Fionna, frightened her.

The Ice Royals and Vampires honestly cared less about Earth. Ooaa was their home and they were determined to get it back. Natasha was concerned more about Earth than Ooaa. Having little knowledge about the land made this understandable. Troubled by her own reputation, Natasha didn't want them to change things too much for her. Which is why she'd planned for them to meet her at the mall. If they were going to play on her turf, she was going to set the rules.

"Rule number one," she told them, "no weapons. Normal people don't have them."

"Unless it's for self defense," Shawn added.

"Rule number two: no talking about Ooaa. Just act like it never happened."

"Even though we know it did."

"Rule number three and this is the golden rule: blend in."

"And while she gets you all up to her code, Jake and I are gonna head back to the hospital. We need to see Dr. Summers about yesterday."

"So your just gonna leave us," Finn asked.

"For now. Remember a few months ago when you made me get to Ooaa standards? Call this payback."

"What about Jake?"

"I think he suffered enough. Meet me at my house around three."

Shawn and Jake left to see the doctor, leaving his friends in Natasha's hands. Shawn's thoughts on the situation were probably the most conflicted. Shawn's home was Earth and it was being threatened. Ooaa was also like his home so he hoped he could help. Earth however had a lower standard for him, as apposed to Ooaa. He was faced with two issues. The first being him stopping the Lich, the second being where he would _want_ to live if he survived.

_If_.

-AT-

"Now where to find a Power Stone," the Lich asked.

Lichtenstein was the name he chose for his disguise. He was a man about 5"6' in height. He wasn't bulky but he wasn't skinny. His eyes were green and his hair was black and neatly tucked into place to match his grayish-black suit.

He was human.

Like Jake and Cake, reality seemed to have its effect on him. His appearance for starters. That, combined with _his_ loss of power, made his journey of conquest that much harder and non enjoyable for him. Was he to call it quits? Absolutely not. The Lich knew only three things: destruction, death and chaos. Earth was just a stepping stone for his goal, not a break in his rode to darkness. If he had to coexist to accomplish his function, so be it.

He spotted a jewelry store. Taking the Sapphire of Elemental Magic out of his pocket, the stone began pulsating with blue light. He grinned evilly, knowing he found another Power Stone. The only downside was he didn't know which one. He entered the store and placed the Sapphire next to a bunch of jewels. The store clerk tried grabbing his attention but to no gain. Finally, Mr. Lichtenstein reached an orange stone that was glowing along with the sapphire.

At this point, the store clerk was silent and watched him touch the stone with his index finger. The stone began to take shape, much to Lichtenstein's annoyance. The shape the stone took was a rhinoceros. It charged around the room destroying everything in its way, completely avoiding the stationary Lichtenstein and the cowering clerk. When the Power Stone Guardian finished its rampage it left the store with Lichtenstein following and the clerk in confusion.

-AT-

Arriving at the hospital, Jake began sniffing around for the doctor; something that he didn't really like doing. When he caught her scent, he barked twice and Shawn followed his lead. He led them to several different locations before they found her in the hall of the infirmary.

"Dr. Summers," Shawn ran up to her with Jake at his side.

"Oh hello," she greeted. "Do I know you?"

"Yesterday," Shawn looked around and lowered his voice. "Two kids wearing animal hats were your patients."

"Why are we whispering?"

Shawn turned around and entered an empty room.

"Come on," he told her.

Uncertain, Dr. Summers followed behind Jake. When they were in Shawn closed the door.

"Are there any cameras or microphones in here," he asked.

"Why do you want to know," she sounded warily.

"I know you knew more than you told us."

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday you told us they collapsed right outside the hospital. But before you said collapsed, you hesitated. Almost like you were trying to forget _what_ you remembered. What did you see?"

Dr. Summers walked to the computer station, entered a code, then faced them.

"The cameras are off," she informed him. "I was just leaving the hospital for my break when out of nowhere, some sort of..._portal_...opened right in front of me. Your cousin and friend came out first, then their pets. The portal closed, I brought them inside, and that's when you came in. When I left you all in the room, my assistant handed me their file. It was blank, except for their treatment. It was like they didn't exist. I went back to tell you all, thinking it was some sort of mistake. I saw that projection come out of your watch. How is any of this possible?"

Shawn looked at Jake who nodded, as if he knew what Shawn was thinking.

"There's this show called Adventure Time on Cartoon Network. Those kids you treated were from that world. Actually, everyone in that room was except for me, the black and white tabby, the girl with blonde hair and the girl who told you Fionna's name. I don't really know how it's possible, but I _know_ it is."

The doctor stood up from the chair, opened the door and left the two. Jake looked at Shawn who shrugged. They left the room and saw the doctor making her way down the hall.

"Doc, I'm not making this up," Shawn walked beside her.

"You honestly want me to believe any of it?"

"You saw the proof."

"It's gonna take a lot more than that to-"

The window was shattered by an orange rhinoceros that immediately ran out by smashing another window.

"Is that good enough for you," Shawn asked before running to the window.

"Wait," Dr. Summers called. "What are you doing?"

"My job. Jake, watch the doc. I'll be back...hopefully."

He ran towards the beast leaving Jake and Dr. Summers in the hospital's hallway.

"What did he mean by that," she for some reason asked the dog.

[Riotousness,] Jake barked.

-AT-

"Pick up, pick up," Shawn dialed Natasha on his communicator and getting no reply. "Fine. Looks like I'm going solo on this one."

Shawn reached the Guardian's destruction spot. He noticed that it had rougher skin than a normal Rhino. He turned on the OMEGA function, realizing it was a Power Stone Guard.

"Greetings. I am the Op-"

"OMEGA, I need you to scan this stone."

OMEGA zoomed off in front of the Guardian, making it confused. Shawn used that as a moment to strike. He released his duel swords and began slashing at the Guardian, but making no marks on it whatsoever. The Guardian swatted him away like a fly. It ran towards him but Dr. Summers, holding a large stick, and Jake stood in between them. Jake growled and stood his ground while Dr. Summers swung at the Guardian.

"Go on," she yelled. "Get out of here!"

Obviously she was no match for the Guardian. However, it ran in the opposite direction causing no further mayhem. Dr. Summers dropped the stick and examined Shawn while OMEGA returned to his wrist.

"The Amber of Protection has the ability to create a temporary shield for the user. Even if the user has the stone on their person, in pocket for example, the stone will instantly create a shield when the user is in any danger. The stronger the will, the stronger the endurance. Even people at close can become protected if they are not the attacker. The Amber of Protection's hidden ability is to create a full-body suit on the user."

Shawn shut off the OMEGA function and looked to Jake.

"This can't be good."

A/N:

Teller16-djb: This was the Amber of Protection first appearance. Not every stone is going to be the same for future reference.

Brenda: What happened to the Lich, or "Lichtenstein", is that the Amber's Guardian lost him before crashing into the hospital.

Clockwork: The Amber is the second Power Stone to have and animal Guardian. Those Guardians can switch forms, but most of them remain in one to keep things simple.

Teller16-djb: So now that we got that info out the way…

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	5. Chapter 4: Stowaways

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Just to remind you all, the only animal forms the Amber of Protection can take are ones with an exoskeleton and rough skin. Clockwork is the only one who finds that amusing.

Clockwork: It's my best bodyguard.

Brenda: Why do _you_ need a bodyguard? If something bad happens, wouldn't you already know about it?

Clockwork: Sometimes it's easier _not_ to use powers.

Brenda: I beg to differ.

Clockwork: That's because you don't have powers.

Teler16-djb: Enjoy the chapter folks. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Key: [ ] = Animal Speech

Chapter 4: Stowaways

No One's POV

Just like Shawn requested, they met him at his house at three, excluding the Vampire King who never left the house. By the looks of things, Natasha had a field day with them much to Finn's frustration. He wore a black shirt with a blue design in the middle, while wearing jeans. Instead of his messy hair, it was mostly parted to the left side of his face. Fionna was wearing black jeans with grey shirt that had the same blue design that Finn had.

"Have fun," Shawn asked, mainly to Finn.

"Your evil," Finn dropped to the floor.

"Not as evil as the Power Stone Guard Jake and I faced today."

"You what," Star asked.

"It got away. And it wasn't so easy to fight either. I couldn't even make a scratch in the armor."

"You saw the Amber of Protection?"

"It was a Rhino when we fought it. If it wasn't for Jake and the doc I'd be part of the sidewalk."

Shawn led them into the living room where they each took their own seats.

"Where have you guys been," Marshall asked gesturing to the heroes of Ooaa.

"Don't ask," Finn dropped his head.

"Guys," Shawn called. "Look."

"A few hours ago," the reporter told, "an orange rhinoceros made a rampage in the downtown area."

"Told ya," Shawn crossed his arms.

"We have no video footage but claims from bystanders give a general story. A teenager appeared to be fighting it, but the rhinoceros batted him away. When the rhinoceros ran back to him, it was stopped by a blonde dog. A woman now identified as Dr. Beatrice Summers chased it off with a stick. But as you can see, the rhinoceros has returned. Is it after something? Someone? Wait. What's it doing?"

The rhino charged at the reporter forcing the camera guy to drop his equipment. The rhino smashed the camera, and the live feed was cut.

"Get back in your Ooaa clothes," Shawn ordered. " It's adventure time."

While Finn, Fionna and Natasha suited up, Natasha's adventure pack began to stir. Cake sniffed at it to identify the source.

[It smells like...] she sniffed, [...burnt candy corn?]

The top flap busted open and three pieces of candy corn fell out with an orange cat.

[I told yas it wouldn't hold,] the orange cat said to the candy.

"What the heck are they," Marceline questioned.

"**IT'S US! IT'S US**," the candy moved.

They got down to the level of the candy corn and saw three faces and sets of clothes.

"Holy Glob," Shawn breathed. "Holly?"

"**YEP!**"

"Jolly?"

"**UH HUH!**"

"Molly?"

"**WHAT HAPPENED TO US?! WHY ARE WE SO SMALL?!**"

[And how comes I ain't aflame no mores?]

"Welcome to Earth," Shawn awkwardly laughed. "This world might've changed you guys up a bit."

[A bit?! I look like some Garfield reject like that there Heathcliff.]

"Don't worry, we're working on it."

"Please can anyone save u-Wait. There are three kids out there with swords. Wearing animal hats?"

"That's low Finn. Vamps, can we hitch a ride?"

-AT-

"Shawn was right," Finn dodged the rhinos attack. "This thing is hard core."

Natasha sliced at the rhino's back and the Guard fell. Finn continued slicing the Power Stone Guard but made no mark on it. Natasha, noticing the difference, sliced the rhino's tail off. The Guard flailed around and the challengers moved out of its way. The Vampires in their bat form landed behind them. The passengers jumped off and took out their weapons.

"You my friend…" Shawn told Finn, "…suck. A heads up might've been nice."

"_That_ was for ditching us," the hero batted.

The rhino charged at them again but the vampires stopped it from smashing into another wall up front while the humans grabbed whatever was left of his tail.

"The reason I left was to talk to the doc," Shawn strained. "And you started it."

The rhino turned around a full 360, making them all end up against the wall.

"**Who dares tap into the power of the Amber of Protection**," the Power Stone Guard asked.

"We didn't activate you," Star told it.

"**No matter who activated me, someone must fight me.**"

"Hi. Still new here. What the flop is that," Marshall asked.

"A Power Stone Guardian," Star answered.

"Okay. What's a Power Stone?"

"A special diamond that gives you powers."

"**The battle shall commence in three…two…one…begin!**"

The challengers stood battle ready while the Guard took another form. They laughed though seeing the form, except for Star.

"An armadillo," they rolled over in laughter.

"This isn't funny guys," Star scolded them. "This guard is the strongest one."

"Shouldn't we…be facing…the easier ones first," Fionna asked in between laughs.

"My uncle barely uses predictability anymore."

Shawn walked over to the Guard, still stumbling over laughter. He picked up the orange armadillo, only to be repeatedly hit by the flying diamond ball. The other's laughed at Shawn's misfortune, again not including Star. The Guard switched it's for to a porcupine and shot quills at the laughing bunch. They leapt out of the way, losing all hilarity for the moment.

"You know," Shawn dodge the quills with his friends/team, "the Amber of Protection isn't doing that much protecting."

"It's protecting itself," Natasha ducked. "What'd you think this one would be a monk?"

"Kind hoping."

The Guard shifted to a crab and pinched the nose of Marceline. She screamed in pain, batting it away. It transformed into an ant. The Candy Corn Kids had trouble keeping him down. Nova, Cake and Jake pounced at it but the Guard picked them up and threw them around the area. It turned back into a rhino and Natasha sliced it's side. Shawn noticed what damaged her sword caused.

"Brainstorm," Shawn said. "Finn, high flier set-up! Natasha, Fionna, you're going airborne!"

Finn and Shawn cupped their hands together in their own side of the Guard. The girls ran up to their counterparts and were lifted into the air. They readied their crystal swords and when they landed on the Guard's back, they stabbed through the armor. The Guard reverted back into an amber that rolled up to Shawn while Natasha and Fionna landed.

"Well that was fun," Shawn put the stone in his pocket.

[How many more of those Guards do we have to fight,] Nova and Jake collapsed.

"Six more," Star informed them. "The Ruby of Mind Control, the Emerald of Super Ability, the Fluorite of Memory Erasing, the Agate of Youth, the Onyx of Animalism and the Cubic Zirconia of Supernatural. On the up side we do have one more Stone than the Lich."

"But now we have bigger problems," Natasha said.

"Like what?"

"For starters…_them_!"

A heard of reporters, camera crew, and photographers were rushing up to them.

[Quickly,] Flambo called. [This ways.]

They ran into an alley and let the crowd run past. When he thought they were all gone, Shawn poked his head out to see no one in sight.

[Who were they,] Jake wondered.

"Paparazzi," Shawn told them, not understanding what Jake asked. "They look for anything that's news worthy and turn it into something bad."

"Than they might be out of the job," Marshal smirked. "'Cause it's hard to make _me_ look bad."

"Oh sure," Natasha smiled. "We have two guitar playing vampires, two Royals with Ice Powers, two dogs and two cats with magical stretching and shrinking powers that they not don't have, three stowaway Candy Corn Kids the size of candy corn, a stowaway fire cat without fire and four teenagers who look like humanoid animals. There's _no_ way you can make _that_look bad."

"Thanks for summing that up Bonnibelle," Marcelline shrugged.

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"You remind me of Bubblegum. You're both all stick by the rules."

"It's clear," Shawn whistled to stop their shot fued.

Shawn checked his watch and saw the time.

"Since school is over," he thought aloud, "maybe its time I show you guys a little more about Earth. Let's go to McDonald's."

[The farmer,] Cake asked.

"Just follow us."

Natasha, Nova, Star and Shawn lead the way to the restaurant. If they were gonna be stuck there for a while, they might as well learn how they live. First step, eating.

A/N:

Teller16-djb: I had a brainstorm!

Clockwork & Brenda: Not again.

Teler16-djb: Trust me this one's good.

Clockwork: That's what you said last time.

Brenda: And the time before that.

Clockwork & Brenda: And the time before-

Teller16-djb: Since posting a Q&A story is "against the rules of the site", we'll be taking questions through the reviews of this story.

Brenda: That's actually a good idea Pipsqueak. Wait, the site has a rule against that?

Teller16-djb: This site keeps getting more of my respect by the minute. The _almighty Clockwork_ has to follow the rules.

Clockwork: Just end the chapter already.

Teller16-djb: Okay mortal. Questions? Send them in. Answers? You'll get back.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	6. Chapter 5: Reboot

A/N:

Teller16-djb: So here's how the Q&A system is going to work. You send in questions.

Clockwork: We all answer them.

Brenda: And you'll get the answer at the end of the chapter.

Teller16-djb: Along with an ad for any Adventure Time story you may have written.

Brenda: There's _no way_ this can go wrong.

Teller16-djb: Silver tongue...**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 5: Reboot

Shawn's POV

"So for the next week," Natasha told the hero and heroine, "no hats, unless there's some hero work."

"Why not," Fionna gripped her hat tightly.

"Nobody needs to recognize you. Especially at school."

We walked into another alleyway near McDonald's for the Vampires to change back and Star to go human. When the Vampires put on their sun hats, I took out the amber and got a brainstorm.

"Natasha," I said. "Can I see the topaz?"

"Why," she asked.

"I just had an idea."

She took the stone out of her pocket with much hesitation. She threw it to me and I set it down in front of Nova.

"Nova, think you can find the other Power Stones?"

[I might be a while, b-but I can give it a shot, I guess,] the cat meowed.

"Uh Star-"

"To put it lightly," she sighed, "he'll try."

Nova meowed again and a yellow portal opened. He jumped inside, leaving us to walk inside the restaurant. Except for Flambo and the kids, who had to wait outside. I offered Natasha to wait, seeing as are group was far out of her "social range", but she said she'd come in just to make sure nothing bad happened.

"I'll handle this," I told them.

"Welcome to McDonald's," the cash register lady looked at us quizzically, making Natasha try to shrink. "M-may I take your orders."

"I want a Bacon and Cheese Quarter Pounder," Marshall said like an excited child, loosing all cool this woman might've thought he had.

"Me too," Marceline copied his excitement.

"We want a Big Mac," Fionna and Finn nearly screamed.

"I want a Double Cheeseburger," Luna joined them.

"Shut up," Natasha and I were for once on the same page; at least in a long while.

"Your kids huh," the cashier asked us.

"**What?!** No," we looked at each other. "Definitely not."

"They're our friends, cousins and sister," I told her. "And we're only fifteen."

"And if they don't behave, they won't get anything," Natasha gritted her teeth to them.

"No Mom! We'll be good," they all unitized the angel routine, leaving Natasha to give them the evil eye.

"Anything else," the cashier asked.

"Two cheeseburgers," Natasha ordered for her and Nova.

"A large fry and another Big Mac," I concluded.

"That'll be…$26.11," the cashier tallied.

That froze me in my tracts. In retrospect, it was probably a bad idea to give them choices in the first place. Seeing the price, the others stepped back and left me to pay.

"Real mature guys," I gave the cashier the money. "Real mature."

"You said you'd handle it," Luna reminded me.

"I meant the order. You could've at least chipped in Natasha."

"I got them clothes," she told me. "You can handle the food."

The lady handed me our food.

"Thank you," she said a little too happily. "Come again."

"You'd like that wouldn't you," I glared at her.

I gave Luna the food and pushed them all out of McDonald's. They looked happy with themselves, probably because _I_ was the one paying for _all_ of it.

"What about a drink," Marshall asked smugly.

"You can have water when we get home," I told him. "Holy crap. I've become my father."

There's good and bad news to this situation. The good news is that they like McDonald's. The bad news is that now they're gonna want more.

-AT-

"Let's go over this one more time," Natasha told Finn and Fionna. "Hello. I haven't seen you two before. What are you're names?"

"I'm Finn Mertens," the hero said lazily while sitting upside down on my couch. "And I came from Omaha to live with my aunt and uncle."

"Why would you come here?"

"My parents are having trouble on our family's farm, so they sent me to live here with my cousin Shawn for a while."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. So now that I know who you are, nice to meet you. And nice to meet you too Miss…?"

"I'm Fionna Parton," Fionna yawned from sitting next to Finn in the same position. "I'm Natasha's long lost sister."

"Oh everyone knows Natasha. She so popular, and witty and-"

"So you're vain too," I said from the floor. "Shocker."

"Quiet you. So Fionna, where have you been hiding all this time?"

"I wasn't hiding," she sat up and got on defense. "I went exploring around Oklahoma!"

"And failed. You have to keep a level head. Nice job Finn, but it would've been better if you'd feel sadder about it."

"How's he supposed to when we've been going over this for two and a half hours," I asked.

"Are you ever quiet?"

"Only when I sleep. Let them rest for tomorrow. You act like an overbearing mother."

"And you act like a cheap father."

"Oh yeah," I stood to face her. "Well you're bossy."

"Guys," Star tried to get our attention.

"You're immature," Natasha batted.

"Guys."

"You're inconsiderate," I retaliated.

"You're lazy," Natasha struck.

"You're-" we were cut off.

"[**SHAWN AND NATASHA**,]" our friends called us.

"**WHAT?!**"

"[**FINN AND JAKE STOPPED MOVING!**]"

"What," I examined them.

The others backed up until one of them accidentally turned on the TV. The sounds it played made us all stop in our tracts, out of both fear that we overheard and curiosity of if we hadn't. On the TV screen, in full color, was…

A/N:

Teller16-djb: **CLIFFHANGER!** I never get tired of that.

Brenda: But we do. So zip it.

Teller16-djb: Fine, on to business. Since this question involves time, Clockwork can answer.

rbvictor: How long were Shawn, Star, Natasha, and Nova in Ooaa compared to Earth time? Was a day in Ooaa the equivalent to a day on Earth, or is there some sort of ratio of Ooaa days to Earth days?

Brenda: Give him the short version of the long hour speech you gave us.

Clockwork: The way it _used_ to work was that a day in Ooaa was equivalent to a week in Earth time. But since the first time the Ice Royals raised the Lich, they've made my job a little more complicated. So when they arrived on Earth, I thought it easier to rest it. So now a day on Earth is a day in Ooaa. ReAl and other Esoteric time is a whole different thing.

Teller16-djb: Be sure to check out rbvictor's profile, and don't forget to read his two Adventure Time stories, _The Prisoner_ and _Forgotten Kingdom_.

Brenda: Are you done shamelessly advertising yet?

Teller16-djb: Just about.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	7. Chapter 6: Ooo, This Is Bad Part 1

A/N:

Teller16-djb: So there are a few things from the last chapter that we forgot to go over.

Brenda: To start, $26.11 is the _actual_ price for that order. Look it up or order it yourself, we kid you not.

Clockwork: The second thing was what Shawn said about having kids at fifteen.

Teller16-djb: That's how old I was when I found out I had Esoteric kids. Ever tell a Dragon and a Spirit why their life is the way it is? No? Consider yourself luck. I blame you Sissy.

Brenda: Me? You're the one who made Creates.

Teller16-djb: Well you're the one who gave me the magic laptop.

Brenda: Only because _Clockwork_ gave me it first.

Teller16-djb: So what? You're just gonna give a magical computer to your seven-year-old brother because you got it from a ghost.

Brenda: It was your birthday. And you liked it didn't you?

Clockwork: Um…the story.

Teller16-djb: So what if I liked it? You just don't do that.

Clockwork: I'll just get this one moving.

Brenda: Sorry Pipsqueak. Must've forgotten the rule for _that_.

Clockwork: Silver tongue activate.

Chapter 6: Ooo, This Is Bad Part 1

Star's POV

"Adventure Time," I asked. "I thought you said Ooaa was destroyed."

"I did," Shawn simply answered. "I thought it was."

They stayed still until the title of the episode. When that happened, Finn flopped on the couch to face the ceiling, while Jake stood _straight_ up on _two_ legs. Out of the both of them, it was safe to say that Jake surprised us the most. Jake looked like he was eating something out a cup, but to us he was just holding air.

"What," he shouted. "No more crackers? Eeeee."

He ran over to a wall in the hallway. None of us could move or speak seeing him act normally; well, Ooaa normal.

"Prismo! Prismo! Hey man, Hey!"

"Heeeey," the Prismo on the TV greeted.

"Bad news, you ran out of cheese crackers."

"What! No."

"Yeah man, what are you going to do about it?"

"Jaaake. I'm Prismo the wish master. We can have all the cheesy crackers we want."

"Star," Shawn sounded concerned. "What's happening to them?"

"Like I know," I rolled my eyes.

"Magic _is_ your specialty."

"Well when you put it that way…I think coming to reality makes them act out what they do in Ooaa, instead of disappearing to do it somewhere else?"

"Wait," Natasha gained her senses. "They can do what?"

"Long story," we spoke in unison.

"Peppermint Butler! Death," Jake and Prismo exclaimed.

"What's up," Jake asked them.

"Hey umm," Peppermint Butler looked worried, "those guys are doing selfies on The Lich."

The Lich was sitting on the floor while Grob, Gob, Glob and Grod took a picture of themselves on him.

"Stupid twenty-first century," the Vampires crossed their arms.

"What's with them," Ice Princess wondered.

"It's a Vampire thing," I replied.

"Well," Prismo was speaking. "The Lich's primary function is to cause mass death. And since he can't do that while he is trapped in my Time Room…"

"[**BULL CRAP**,]" we all agreed.

"…he's stuck in the stand still, like a machine without a purpose."

"I am so scared right now," Peppermint Butler obviously wasn't convinced.

"Yikes," even _Death_ found it worrisome.

"Aw, don't worry," Jake calmed. "He ain't gonna hurt nobody."

Jake _stretched_ over to the TV and put his "cup" on top.

"Ha," he laughed. "You got a cup on your head. Ha-ha you dingus! See, he's docile as a lamb."

"Big words," Marceline looked sarcastically impressed.

"Oh, what time is it? Hey yo, Clock Face, what time is it?!"

A guy with a clock for a face looks over to Jake then checks his wrist watch

"Uncle," I rolled my eyes. "He always had a thing for cheap disguises. Shawn, Natasha, you remember Principal Eastman?"

"Oh God no," Natasha put her hands on her head. "We've been going to school with one of you?"

I glared at her, but let that comment slide. It's not my fault my uncle wanted to keep an eye on Shawn. I never understood why though. He sent me to look out for him, yet he keeps saying something about "A Greater Destiny" and stuff like that.

"Brainstorm," Shawn shook me out my thought.

"What now," Natasha questioned.

"If they repeat everything that they're doing in the show now," Shawn gestured to Finn and Jake, "than that means so is the Lich. He's not moving in the show, so we can use it as a chance to get the sapphire back."

"Sure," Oliver watched the TV. "We just walk up to an ancient spirit and take it back before he wakes up."

"What do you mean wakes up," Olivia was looking through a book.

"The Lich King gotta move some time. Best guess, you guys have until the show ends before something huge happens."

We looked at the Ice Kids weirdly; Shawn being the one to stop us.

"As much as I hate to admit," he told us, "Ice Prince might be right. Here's the plan, we need three units to-"

"**Why three**," the kids asked.

"One team to get the stone, the next to keep an eye on F and J, and the other to keep everyone away from the first two groups. Vampires, Ice Kids, think you can handle it?"

"Have you seen me in action," Marshal nodded before the third group left.

"Fionna, Cake, Flambo and kids, stay with Finn and Jake and make sure they don't destroy anything."

"[**GOT IT**,]" was the general agreement tone of group two.

"Star, Natasha and I will go get 'em."

We ran out the front door, out our gated community and on to find our enemy. Shawn took out the amber and used it guide us to the sapphire. Instead, it lead us back to McDonald's. Natasha took the stone from him and we went in a circle. Shawn took back the Amber of Protection, and after he and Natasha had a short argument, I decided to use my instincts for this one.

Really bad decision.

I tracked him down, but the very smell of him made me want to rip off my nose. He smelt strongly of smoke, ash and blood. When we reached the alleyway I tracked him to, I morphed to my human form. I could still smell him, but at least it wasn't as burly. We peered our heads out and saw the Lich sitting, facing the dead-end wall that blocked that kind of exit.

Shawn, always as curious as a puppy, went ahead while Natasha and I stayed put at the corner. He walked ever so slowly to the front of the Lich and sighed. He reached over to the Lich's pocket and pulled his hand away immediately. The link told me that whatever was in there was on fire. He looked to me as if trying to show me he couldn't.

'The amber,' I mouthed.

He nodded, took the Amber of Protection out and an orange, crystallized glove covered his hand. He gave me a thumb's up before again reaching for the Lich's pocket. Carefully, he pulled out the Sapphire of Elemental Magic and tossed it our way. Natasha caught it and put it in her pocket. Mission…seemingly accomplished. Why "seemingly"?

Out of the blue, the Lich looked up, smacked Shawn against the wall in front of him. _That's_ why "seemingly". Then, he walked up to and picked up my disoriented part-brother.

"Wake up," the Lich spoke.

The Lich shook old him hastily.

"He's still in the show," Shawn gasped for air. "Run.

"**Not while I'm still a V****ö****r****ò****urs**," I growled.

I ran up to the Lich and pushed Shawn out of his bony hands, once again taking his place.

Shawn's POV

The Lich breathed out a black gas into Star's nose. She gasped and turned into dust. My swords drew out in vengeance but retracted when the sand took shape…and Star returned to normal.

"Do I have to spend the rest of my life taking your baggage," she smiled at me.

"Not anymore," I hugged her. "I'm not losing you again."

I heard a sniffle behind us and we turned to face Natasha.

"Are you crying," Star teased her.

"No," she responded. "It's just…"

"Say it," I laughed.

"Forget it."

"Say it," we told her happily.

"Good to have you back," she said just above a whisper.

"Can't hear you," I sang.

"I said…it's good to have you back, Star."

Natasha was by far the most complicated person I'd ever known, and I'd known a few strange ones. We may not always see eye to eye, but I can be the one that brings the best out of her. And Nova. And Star. And the Oooa gang. Even when she won't admit it, I _know_ it.

The Lich erupted into a laugh before he froze in his tracts. That wasn't good. Star and I backed up into the corner with Natasha as the Lich snapped out of it and looked around. His eyes rested on us.

"You," he glared.

"**RUN**," I ordered.

A/N:

Brenda: **AND YOU'RE THE ONE WHO MADE CREATES IN THE FIRST PLACE!**

Teller16-djb: **THAT'S NOT THE POINT!**

Brenda: **YOU SAID THAT FIVE TIMES ALREADY! WHAT **_**IS**_** THE POINT?**

Teller16-djb: **I DON'T KNOW! I LOST INTREST IN THIS ARGUMENT TEN MINUTES AGO!**

Brenda: **THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL SHOUTING?**

Teller16-djb: **BECAUSE IF I STOP IT'LL SEEM LIKE I LOST THE ARGUMENT!**

Clockwork: We have bigger problems.

Teller16-djb & Brenda: **LIKE WHAT?!**

Clockwork: My niece called my disguises _cheap_. Can you believe that?

Brenda: Yes.

Teller16-djb: Big time. But as we were pointing out before the argument, the Ooaa gang _are_ practically like children since Earth is kinda new to them.

Brenda: Shawn and Natasha are practically their parents because when they do something wrong, these two will pay for it.

Teller16-djb: Now here's the last part in our two-part season opener. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE!**


	8. Chapter 7: Ooo, This Is Bad Part 2

Chapter 7: Ooo, This Is Bad Part 2

No One's POV

"Get back here," Fionna chased after Finn and Jake.

While he was running up to a portal that lead to the Citadel in the show, Finn ran towards the door of Shawn's house in reality. Jake jumped on Finn's back as he ran to the luckily open door.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Finn repeated to the air.

Jake stretched them out of the house. Magically, they began soaring in the air, right out of the gated community. The residents were questionable to all the noise since the show started, but no one dared go outside. Why? Marceline and Marshall Lee were outside all of their houses scaring them into hiding. Meanwhile, Shawn, Natasha and Star were happy to finally have a break from the Lich chasing them.

The commercial break had given him free time to enjoy being in his Ooaa form instead of his Earth one. The advantage of it was that he was able to use his dark magic again. Spending his energy trying to destroy the only ones who could stop his master plan, he chased them throughout the town. This caused a stir but the Ice Kids, who broke into a sub-group from the Vampires to watch the Power Stone retrievers, made a blockade and even kept the reporters busy.

The break gave Finn and Jake time to explain what happened, as if group two had no way of knowing. But when the two season premiere episodes started back up, so did the _real _action. Finally after a chase past the highway, they stopped at the forest where Natasha had left Earth to go to Ooaa.

"Hey," Finn exclaimed. "The Lich again! This must be where the prison cells be at. See? Good riddance to you. I hope you rot forever, you awful jerk clapper! Some people just make the world a worse place to be in just by being around Jake. That's right. Bad apples. Lock 'em all up, I say. At the bottom of the ocean where it's too dark to see 'em."

"Look at that weird ol' kid over there," Jake tells him. "Man, look at his clo-"

"Daddy!"

Finn jumped towards a tree and smashed against it.

[Dat's gonna make a healty bruise,] Flambo winced.

Jake turned into a slide and Finn slid onto the floor. Jake and Finn look up at the tree silently.

"All locked up in there," Finn said. "D-Do you think maybe he's a criminal too?"

"Well," Jake walked towards him, "it had crossed my mind."

He groaned while slapping his head across his face, then gets up from the floor.

[That can't be right,] Cake sympathetically shook her head.

"Jeez, man! Now I wish I hadn't said all that stuff before. Now my heart feels yellow and green. Maybe we shouldn't even have come here—waah!? Jake, what did you do?"

"It wasn't me! It came from up there!"

Finn looks up at the leaves for a brief moment, in the show he saw the damage being done to the citadel.

"He's melting the crystal all up! Breaking cats out left and right. Turning cats gray. Did he trick us again? I think he did."

In town, the street was the only thing set ablaze. The Amber made a boat which protected them from the boiling, tar river.

"When I woke up this morning," Natasha complained, "I didn't expect to swim in a steaming lake made out of our town's street."

"Funny how life works," Shawn thought aloud.

"Could be worst," I shrugged. "We could _not_ have a way out of this."

"What do you have in mind."

Star took the sapphire from Natasha and pointed it at the street.

"Water," she said.

From the Sapphire of Elemental Magic, water shot out onto the hot street. It propelled them in all directions like an out-of-control speed boat, while also cooling down the street. They crashed onto the side walk. The amber turned back into a Power Stone and the street cooled down.

"That aughtta do it," Star groaned.

"Next time," Shawn flopped over, "I'm steering."

The steam blocked their vision of everything besides the block of grassthe Lich torched up. When he started moving, they gasped.

"It's time to peel bananas on this fool, as a family," Finn flexed with Jake on the back of a bat Marshall. "How about it, Martin?

An explosion on the ground threw Finn off balance, but Marshall kept him on his back while he and the Vampire Queen dived towards Shawn, Natasha and Star. They landed behind them, every one of them looking towards the Lich. The Lich stood surrounded by black fire. He took a step forward and revealed himself. The Lich was fully bone. He turned everything around him and the heroes in front of him to a fully black backdrop.

"Fall," he odered.

The team are forced to the floor, laying down in anguish. The Lich walked forward onto the street, laughing menacingly. Finn manages to crouch while weakly standing, whereas Shawn could only force himself the sit on his knees. They looked towards their friends, all of whom were passed out.

"You are alone, child," the Lich told the conscious heroes of both worlds.

Finn fell next to Shawn, letting out a groan.

"Finn," Shawn strained.

"There is only darkness for you," the Lich continued, "and only death for your people. These ancients are just the beginning."

The Lich stalked forward with each word, Finn and Shawn trying to make their attacks to him. Feeling rather weak, they took their swords out but tip over, groaning with much pain.

"I will command a great and terrible army; and we will sail to a billion worlds. We will sail until every light has been extinguished. You are strong, child. But I am beyond strength. I am the end."

"But we're the beginning," Shawn shook.

He reached his bony hand out towards Finn. Finn rolled over to see the Lich's movements. Shawn struggled to stop him while Finn balled his hand into a fist.

"And I have come for you," The Lich finalized. "Finn."

Finn slapped the Lich with the blood on his hand. The Lich started to grow veins and muscle with his anatomy. The black background went away while the Lich went crazy and make creepy noises. Everyone who was unconscious woke up and saw the Lich, save for Jake.

"Oh, you don't like this stuff, huh," Finn sat up and threw air at the monster, which causes the Lich to turn much faster than he already was. "Woah!"

The Lich fell over, covered in flesh.

"Right in the doorbell," Finn smiled.

He looked towards a building making his smile go away.

"Dad," he started to run towards the seven story building.

"Wait what," Shawn was shocked.

"Jake, finish off the Lich. I gotta go catch my dad."

"Finn, forget that loser," Jake called to him.

Finn looked like he was swimming but we was moving very fast on the land. Shawn looked back to his friends wide eyed.

"I gotta go get him," he ran off.

"Wait for me," Fionna followed.

"Dad, wait," Finn calls as he starts his climb up the side of the building.

The flames of the grass were coming up, so they had to hurry before the building caught fire. Shawn looked frantically around and found what they could use.

"Ladder," he told her. "Hurry!"

They scurried up to the walkway and ran up the stairs that lead to the top window. The metal ladder started heating up, melting the ground a stair behind them. Finn was making amazing climbing speed through the side of the building.

"Dad! Stop," he called.

"Finn has a dad," Shawn asked his friend.

"He's evil," Fionna nodded.

"Crap. Finn!"

Finn started floating away grabbing the air, but Jake stretched his arm out and pulled him back to the building.

"Martin," Finn called. "I won't let you escape!"

The fire caught up with Shawn and Fionna, forcing them to jump onto the roof. They helped Jake pull Finn down to Earth but it was becoming strenuous. Like there was something pulling him from the other side. Finn was also struggling with his own hold, his face becoming redder by the second. The grass sword on Finn's arm took shape into a giant, spiky arm which blew off his hat, shirt and backpack. The heroes gasped at his screams, even the reporters caught footage. Then, the worst happened.

**SNAP!**

Finn's forearm came clean off.

"**Finn**," Fionna and Shawn screamed before they leapt off the building after them.

Shawn and Fionna caught him but were faced with a bigger problem: they were about to hit the cold concrete. A flash of yellow light blinded them and they stopped falling. Shawn blinked and looked up at their savior.

"Nova," Shawn smiled. "How'd you get you're powers back?"

"Funny story," he replied in _English_. "I found the onyx, cubic zirconia and agate with this talking chipmunk. He didn't give them to me but he _did_ give me back my powers. He said his name was Teller and he told me to tell you hi."

"Teller," Shawn raised his eyebrow. "Who the heck is Teller?"

"Shawn look," Fionna said to him.

Finn's arm went from a clean cut and made a three pedaled flower. Jake pulled them towards the rest of the group who swarmed Finn like flies. Jake moved Finn's hair out of his face and sat him up. A brotherly act that lifted the tension in the air, slightly.

"It'll be okay, dude," Jake comforted him.

Finn though didn't seem to get over the fact that his favorite arm had been ripped off, and what made it worse was the one who caused it was his own flesh and blood.

"I mean, at least you finished off the Lich, right," Finn asked.

"Oh yeah," Jake perked up, "that's the good news! I didn't have to! One sec."

He ran behind the group making Shawn, Fionna and Finn questionable.

"Up you go! Check this out!"

Jake held up a Lich sized baby.

"Brand new baby. The Lich is super cute now, and he smells real neat! That sap rebooted him or something. I like him a lot."

"Aww," everyone but Shawn coos.

They looked to him with pleading eyes.

"Nope," he waved them off. "Uh-uh. We are _not _keeping it."

"But," they tried.

"Trust me, this guy's bad news."

The baby made a popping noise with his mouth that really didn't help Shawn's case. The Lich looked harmless to them, but Shawn could see past it. _Especially_ after what he heard. Finn didn't really need to be looked after; they all knew he could hold his own. But Shawn _really_ had a thing against the Lich who was not only after the Power Stones, but Finn as well.

He just couldn't figure out why.

"Well he needs a home," Jake pulled him out of his thoughts on their walk.

"I know," Finn took the Lich and ran across the highway.

He set the Lich down and the Vampires carried them back to Shawn's.

"Hello," the Lich baby smiled.

It twitched for a second before reverting back to the Earth version of himself, only the hair switched color from black to brown. He tried to shoot fire out of his hands but nothing came out. He stamped his foot in frustration of his lost powers. Again. He walked along the highway back to the town. He _would_ get his revenge.

A/N

Teller16-djb: A small part of my adventure was explained. I can sleep soundly now.

Brenda: What was that about?

Teller16-djb: After I got out of another place I won't mention now, I got sent to California for a year. The onyx turned me into a chipmunk for a majority of the time. This stupid rock's like the Omnitrix for me. It only works when it wants to.

Clockwork: Anyway, the Lich is down but not out. He'll be back before you know it.

Brenda: For now, the group gets to focus on Earth a little more. Which becomes a little problematic.

Teller16-djb: Now here's hint two for the special chapter: Costumes are expectable here.

Brenda: We're we're getting closer to the special chapter than my brother's very excited for.

Teller16-djb: Of course I'm excited! We have an extremely special guest-star and an old idea is used.

Clockwork: One of yours?

Teller16-djb: I tweaked it a bit but I can't take credit. But let's just say a few scrapped characters get their own reboot.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	9. Chapter 8: Hidden Truth

A/N:

Teller16-djb: This chapter is sort of a continuum of the last chapter for the beginning.

Brenda: And now the Ooaa gang is gonna see what school's like.

Clockwork: And I was sure to watch them make trouble.

Teller16-djb: So you're not going in this chapter.

Clockwork: I'm in this chapter. I just don't want to relive it.

Brenda: You make my brain hurt.

Teller16-djb: Time'll do that to ya. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 8: Hidden Truth

Shawn's POV

"Woah," Finn almost fell of Marshall's back. "How'd we get up here?"

"Hey Hero," I greeted. "So listen, sorry about…well…what just happened. I didn't know you had a dad."

"Yeah and he's a real poo brain too," Jake spoke up.

"Jake! You're talking again!"

"I am? I am! Aw yeah."

Jake stretched into a vertical jump rope and danced around. Finn, Nova and I laughed until he got blown away Ice Prince. We laughed more while Nova stretched Jake back. Finn and Jake's expression make Marshall and I clutch our stomachs.

"What the what," Finn asked.

"I couldn't get three stones," Nova admitted. "B-but I did get my powers back."

"That's banaynays dude," Jake laughed. "What happened to everyone else?"

"You dumped the Lich near the highway so the girls went wherever they sleep at wherever they go," Marshall explained.

"Oh. Should we follow them or something?"

"Nah," I waved off the thought. "We all need to rest after that ordeal."

Nova started shaking, looking behind me. Confused, I turned around to see Finn's arm start to glow. The glow got bigger and covered everything around us.

"Hey," Marshall complained. "Can't see! Woah!"

We dove down, screaming our heads off. None of us could see anything but a blinding flash surrounding us. Marshall started spinning and I held on to his fur for my life. I pulled back on it, trying to get him to pull up, but he must not've gotten the message. More screaming blocked out the wind rushing past us. We crashed, but into something cold and wet. I dug my way out and saw it was snow. Nova's head popped out next to me, and he looked cold. Ice Prince flew up to me looking worried.

"What the heck was that," he screamed.

"Didn't know you cared about us Oliver," I told him.

"Are you kidding?! Of course I care! If you guys die, what'll happen to our world?! I'm not gonna be stuck here just because you suddenly decide to kill yourselves!"

"Thanks for the concern," Nova mumbled, making me laugh.

Ice Prince blew back the snow and reviled Jake lying on top of Marshall's vampire head and Finn's arm glowing but not as blinding as before. The flower on his arm retreated into his elbow and his arm popped out. Just like that. Finn bent his fingers, than his wrist, then his arm, and jumped up cheering. Nova, Jake and I shrugged it off and joined him. Oliver and Marshall were reluctant, but I pulled them into our newly formed Ring-Around-The-Rosy.

"Finn got his arm back," we cheered. "Finn got his arm back!"

We cheered in the forest for a while before it started to rain. We walked back hastily, everyone got in the house, and after that we just went to bed. Those episodes were draining for all of us. The best thing for us was to get a good night sleep before we had to go to school in the morning. Sadly for me, Nova woke me up at midnight. I turned over but he pulled off my covers.

"Nova," I rubbed my eyes. "Can't you just get your own snack?"

"Don't you hear the beeping," he asked.

Actually, I didn't. I was incredibly tired since the others' first day on Earth was a hard one. Nova was right; there was the veeping noise my communicator always made. It was flashing blue too. I sighed, answering it.

"Hello," I wiped the sleep from my eyes.

"Shawn," the communicator sounded like static.

"Natasha, Fionna, Marceline, whoever you are, it's the middle of the night. I'm not in the mood."

I hung up and laid back down. Immediately, the communicator went off again. I shut it off…and it went of. This continued about five more times before I gave up and answered it.

"**DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF SLEEP**," I yelled. "**IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND I HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW!**"

"I think this is a bit more important than school," the static started to die down.

"Who is this so I know who to punish?"

"It's me."

"I don't know a Me. Can I take a message for someone?"

"It's Princess Bubblegum ya gooball!"

"Princess," Nova and I exclaimed.

"Let me set the record straight," I laughed. "Finn is smarter than you and Bazooka. First, he helped you just by saying the number 4. Now, he saved your world by going into the portal when he wasn't supposed to."

"You're half right about that Shawn."

"Which half," Nova questioned.

"The Aaa half. I don't know why but only Ooo is here. It's like Aaa never existed."

"What should we do? Should…should we send them back?"

"Maybe not. If Fionna and Cake come back, then they might disappear with Aaa forever."

"Or they might not, right," I asked.

"To play it safe, don't tell them anything about Ooo and Aaa for now. The reason I called was about the Lich."

"That big baby? He's long gone by now."

"No. The Lich doesn't give up so easy. He'll be back; otherwise Aaa would still be here."

"But what does he want," Nova asked. "Why would he come here?"

"He wants the Power Stones. If he has at least six of them, he could have enough power to bring together Ooaa _and_ Earth. Just keep them safe and we'll see what happens."

The communicator shut off leaving Nova and I in the dark. Literally. I laid down but now it was even _harder_ to go to sleep. And the reasons why seemed to pile up more every second. Aaa was completely destroyed, the Ooaa gang was stuck here even longer, the Lich was out there probably finding more Power Stones while we slept, some chipmunk named Teller had three of the stones and somehow knew me, and at the very least of the stress pile of misery was that we had to work extra hard to keep our cover.

Marshall, Marceline, the Candy Corn Kids, Flambo, Jake and Cake couldn't come to school; mostly for the fear of people asking too many questions. Natasha would most likely try every trick in her arsenal to avoid the rest of us, which made sense considering what happened earlier. So where did that leave me? Babysitting teenagers. I had enough of trying to get to sleep when I knew full well that I was wide awake.

"Can sleep either," Nova asked, earning a nod from me. "Natasha would usually say no, but can I go downstairs and get a snack?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Okay. Sor-Did you just say yes?"

"I said yeah, let's go. Let me guess. Natasha would probably tell you it's not healthy blah blah, right?"

"R-right."

"Well this is _my_ house so feel free to do whatever you want."

-AT-

"Welcome to Hell," I pushed the doors open to our school.

It was just like I left it. The hall was filled with kids either in lockers or near them. It was hard to see forward with so many of them, but as soon as Natasha walked threw, they made a path. The path closed again when she was down the hall, why was I not surprised.

"What happened there," Oliver asked.

"It's called popularity," I sighed.

"It's when a lot of people like you and think you're important," Star in Luna form clarified.

"So we would be…" Olivia wanted her to continue.

"Nowhere near that popular. Stay close and we'll sneak around to my uncle."

Luna led the way up the stairs, dodging everyone by inches. We went up to flights of stairs and through the hallway to Principal Eastman, I mean, Clockwork's office. I opened the door while Luna closed the blinds on the windows. When everyone was in, and apparently the blinds were closed.

"Luna," the principal asked.

"Star," she corrected. "It's cool. They know."

I've seen a lot of weird thing in my life. The first time I ever really freaked out was when I found out the Kids Next Door were real. Not even going to Ooaa fazed me that much. But then I saw who I once called Principal Eastman turn into Clockwork, I backed up to a seat by the door. I really thought Star was kidding on that one.

"So," Clockwork said. "I believe you already know me. I know all of you, I made the arrangements, so here are your schedules. Be warned that whenever there's a situation I'll call you all to my office."

"Wait," I put up my hand. "All this time you were a ghost? I mean, wh-what are you even here for?"

"Just keeping a close eye on things. Now off with you all, class is starting soon."

Clockwork turned back into Principal Eastman and we left the room.

"And Shawn," I popped my head back in the door. "Welcome back."

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Sadly, summer's almost over.

Brenda: So get your rest in now and finish up those last minute papers.

Clockwork: And we'll continue to keep the lights on in the A/N.

Teller: A warning in advance. We're not gonna tell a story for every day of the week. At most they did their best work when there was a new episode or a weekend.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork and Brenda: See ya around!


	10. Chapter 9: Old Habits

A/N:

Brenda: I think now would be a good time to tell you how important questions are.

Clockwork: You see, the A/N was supposed to be for answering questions, telling you what's coming up in the stories and explaining why certain things are in there in the first place.

Teller16-djb: But since our minds tend to wander a lot, the A/N has mostly been used as a way to let you, the reader, know what we talk about while or after the chapter is published. The questions are nice to answer just because it gives us a goal. Surprisingly, we haven't gotten any flames so we must be doing something right.

Brenda: Or nobody has the patients to tell you how wrong you are. _Nobody_ has that kind of patients.

Clockwork: I don't even have that kind of patients anymore.

Teller16-djb: You can just feel the love in the room. Let's get to the chapter. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 9: Old Habits

Shawn's POV

The day, in one word, was weird. But isn't that always the word. How about strange, odd, peculiar and unusual? Whichever one you choose, that's how things were going.

Just like I thought, nobody seemed to really care that Luna and I were back. They were open to the new arrivals though. In fact, not even a day in and they already got into groups. Gym was the first class of the day; we all had that class together. Finn, to no ones surprise was wanted by the jocks. Well, he was _after_ they couldn't catch up to him. After a lot of convincing on both ends from Natasha, Fionna went into cheerleading.

Our next class was Physics. Only Natasha, Oliver, Olivia, Luna and I had that one. So Finn, Fionna and Nova were on their own for that period. Olivia was one of the _best_ students Mr. Kelmer had. She and Star were actually competing against each other for the answers. Nobody stopped them. Who really wanted to? They were basically telling us everything we needed to know. But when they were on the verge of giving away Ooaa, the bell thankfully rang.

One more class until lunch, and it was Science. Why'd it have to be science? I understand why but couldn't help laughing when both Finn and Fionna came into the room wearing the Glasses of Nerdicon. I finally calmed down after halfway through the class when they _**MADE A BOMB!**_ I took the glasses off of them and Star shut it down. In hindsight, that was probably a bad idea because the bomb shot out blue slime a few seconds later. Our prize? A one way ticket to detention.

"You're idiots," I gritted through as we got our lunch.

"It wasn't that bad," Fionna defended them.

"We barely made an explosion," Finn laughed.

"But you made a mess," Luna fumed. "And uncle is making us clean it up."

"Why do _I_ have to clean it when _I_ didn't do anything wrong," I asked.

"A leader takes responsibility. They mess up, you help them clean it."

"Who made him leader," Finn questioned.

"You're pink haired bosses did," I smugly answered.

Luna and I took them to sit at our usual table by the window. The cafeteria hadn't changed at all. I was actually surprised when Brad Fisher didn't show up. They were wondering why Natasha wasn't in the room, but I explained that she doesn't eat lunch in the room.

"Did you notice how cloudy it got since we've been back," Cosmos, Nova's human form, asked.

"That's probably Oliver's fault," I punched his arm.

"I said I was sorry," he whined.

"What happened," Olivia asked us, mostly glaring at me for that punch.

"Remember the first day we got here and we met you girls at noon?"

They nodded.

"Jack kicked us out of the house because we were trying to make him comfortable without his powers, so we were up early and decided to have an Awesomeness Contest. Jolly was our judge because we didn't want him getting hurt. Marshall flew past the few clouds that were there, dived at us, and landed without breaking anything. A new record for him."

"I climbed to the roof," Cosmos started excitedly but went back to quiet. "A-and jumped a f-few houses."

"I danced," Finn wiggled his arms making us all laugh.

"But as soon as this butt chicken went the rest of us couldn't get a turn," I crossed my arms.

We all looked to Oliver to tell that part and he smirked.

"Well," he said rubbing the back of his neck, "we went to the woods and I was trying to make it snow…buuuut I accidentally got a verse from the spell crossed and unleashed Brauggi."

"You didn't," Olivia face palmed.

"What's a Brauggi," Fionna asked.

"It's a crazy to the max, three story tall, snow beast that used a fallen tree as a club. If it wasn't for Jake, I'd be pancakes," Finn exclaimed.

"He's right," I told them. "Jake ran up him and bit down hard on Brauggi's head."

"Then Brauggi turned to snow," Cosmos added.

"And it's been cloudy ever since," we concluded in unison.

The girls shared a look in between a laugh and a glare. Just as we were all comfy, Finn, Fionna, Olivia and Oliver were called to their new groups; Oliver getting summoned by a drama group probably the class before lunch. They looked to me passive-aggressively because they must've really wanted to go. I couldn't blame them, which is why I waved them off and said:

"Go on. Go to you're groups."

"Thank you," Fionna, Finn, Oliver and Olivia unitized excitedly before walking away.

"Don't you have a group to go to Nov-I mean, Cosmos," Luna asked him.

"I don't r-really have a-a group," Nova lowered his head.

"I guess that makes you one of us then," I smiled.

I could sympathize. Nova was usually timid; being Cosmos must not have changed anything. Still, it was always nice to have another friend in the "Outcast" group. Cosmos seemed happy enough to be one of us, but that was a short lived joy. Why? Brad Fisher. The last time Luna and I saw him, this happened-

_Brad Fisher's his name, but Luna and I just call him Fish Face Fisher. Neither of us understands why but the name just sticks. Anyway I was in the lunch line when Brad Fisher showed up out of the blue and pushed my food all over me. _

_"Watch it Weston," he laughed to his friend mocking me. _

_I heard Luna growl but I was too focused on not dealing with Fish Face. _

_"Why don't you freak off Fisher," Luna spoke._

_'What are you doing,' I mouthed. _

_'Trust me,' she replied._

_"What was that Note," Fisher asked her. _

_"She didn't say anything," I defended. _

_"Butt out wimp," he said pushing me to a nearby table. _

_I bumped into it and shook my head. I saw Fish Face moving closer to Luna who just stood her ground. Brad took it a step too far when he grabbed her shirt collar. _

_"He wouldn't hit a girl would he," a boy at the table I was next to asked. _

_Fisher raised up his fist. _

_"Yes he would," a girl sitting with him answered. _

_I saw an apple he had. _

_"Mind if I borrow this," I said taking it. _

_I aimed fast and threw it at Fisher's head. _

_"Bull's-eye."_

_Fisher put his hand down and glared at me. _

_"You did not just do that," he said through gritted teeth. _

_"I'm calling you out Fisher," I smirked. "Now let Luna go." _

_"Want her? You can have her!" He pushed her towards me and I helped her stand. "Look out," she screamed. _

_A glob of food flew passed us as Luna pulled me down. We looked over the table and saw that the kid I took the apple from got hit. The girl he was sitting with started laughing. He grabbed some chilly from his plate and threw it at her. She smirked at him and tossed her Shepard's Pie in his direction. He ducked and it hit a group of kids. _

_"You thinking what I'm thinking," Luna asked me. _

_I reached and grabbed some chilly, handing her some. _

_"Let's do it," I answered. _

_"FOOD FIGHT," we shouted in unison. _

_We threw our chilly and the chow clash was on. Everyone was in on the act. Luna and I stayed under the table dodging the rations that came our way. _

_"You are the weirdest girl I've ever met," I laughed. _

_"You say that like it's a bad thing," she giggled. "Now what?" _

_I looked around and saw the door to the halls. _

_"Let's bail."_

_We crawled mercenary style under the tables. Only scraps reached us but we brushed them off. _

_"Look out," Luna shouted pushing me out of the way of a hunk of meat. _

_It hit her in the face and she lay on the floor defeated. _

_"Go on without me," she said dramatically. _

_"Yeah not gonna happen," I said. _

_"Why?" _

_"For two reasons. One, we're best friends so we're in this together…" _

_This made her smile. _

_"…and two, you were hit with a chicken leg. You can go on." _

_This made her laugh. _

_"Let go once in a while buzz kill," she smirked._

_We continued our voyage and made it towards the door. We high fived and kept crawling. I pushed the door open and Luna crawled through. _

_"Come on," she said. _

_She grabbed me hand to help me up, but my foot was being pulled back into the cafeteria. Luan pulled hard but lost her balance. I was pulled up by Fish Face who held his fist up to me. _

_"Any last words," he said. _

_I heard a throat clear causing us to look to the left and see our principal. _

_"We are so screwed," I face palmed myself._

-so to save you another trip with that…

"**FOOD FIGHT!**"

A/N:

Clockwork: Another memory I don't like reliving.

Brenda: The detention Clockwork gave them was to clean up the mess.

Teller16-djb: That seemed fair. Short chapter but another is on the way soon. That story they told about Brauggi was actually from a scrapped episode of Adventure Time called _Jake-Less_. I had the idea to use it in _Into the Wormhole_, but as you all know...

Clockwork: Sorry.

Teller16-djb: Somehow it managed to surface again here. Anyway, I opened a poll on my page and it's kinda opinionated.

Brenda: The question is "Should Finn and Fionna be together?".

Teller16-djb: But the question, to me and Brenda, has a sub-meaning.

Clockwork: Which is?

Teller16-djb: Do people want to be with someone like them or their opposite.

Brenda: Not you too. I thought we were past this a few seasons ago.

Teller16-djb: Well it resurfaced.

Brenda: I think people would be happy with someone like them.

Teller16-djb: I do too. But then I think it would get boring after a while. So I think they'd be fine with there opposite.

Brenda: But that would be a constant battle.

Clockwork: Why are you two doing this now?

Teller16-djb: We've been trying to figure this out for years. I think I came up with a solution. People would be happy with someone like them…to a degree.

Brenda: Right. Sometimes different opinions, but still kinda the same. Good compromise Pipsqueak.

Teller16-djb: It's what I do Sissy. But that's just our opinion. Send in yours readers. It'd be interesting to know what you think on it.

Brenda: Clockwork, what's you're opinion.

Clockwork: I've seen many different timelines. Do you really want to go into this?

Brenda: Never mind.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	11. Chapter 10: One Up

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Just like I promised, here's the next chapter.

Brenda: In case you lost track, here's a list of who has the Power Stones so far. Star has the Sapphire of Elemental Magic, Nova has the Topaz of Time and Shawn has the Amber of Protection.

Clockwork: The other three Power Stones in this story are going to be revealed soon.

Teller16-djb: For now, silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 10: One Up

Star's POV

"Again? I swear I leave you alone for one second and already you cause so many problems. An explosion in the science lab, a food fight in the lunch room…"

Uncle had been going on with this for at least fifteen minutes. Just an endless list of the things we did wrong. It felt mostly directed towards Shawn; almost as if my uncle blamed _him_ for what _we_ did. It didn't seem fair that he had to take on so much responsibility all at once. It's not like he asked to be leader. He may have a plan for many things, but if I know Shawn, he'd much rather let someone else take over leadership so he could go back to being carefree.

Unfortunately, Shawn's the best and only boy for the job.

Uncle has shown me many different timelines, and they all had one thing in common: Shawn wasn't the leader. In a timeline where Natasha is the boss, the gang would've been brainwashed into thinking that Ooaa didn't matter. In a timeline where Finn or Fionna was in charge, we all would've gave our lives and lost when it counted. In a timeline where the Vampires or the Ice Kids were in command, we would've gave up and gone back to Ooaa to be destroyed even as we fought. And sad to say, in a timeline where Nova was the boss, we would've gave up on Earth.

Uncle allowed me to live in two timelines that made me really think. In one timeline I was in charge. It started out with us working tirelessly to find all of the stones, but ended with us taking a non-hero-like rode just to get them. We won, but the question was "what _did_ we win?". Then, I lived in a timeline where no one gave the orders. We never got anything done so the Lich won hands down. In each timeline, Shawn wasn't the boss and bad things came as a result. Meaning, Shawn _has _to be the leader.

Still, he didn't deserve a lecture for the things we did. At least he stopped a few disasters that would've happened if Finn and Fionna still had the Glasses of Nerdicon. So when my uncle was not even halfway through his rant, I raised my hand.

"Yes Steller?"

"Uncle," I started smiling, "you really should've seen this coming. You are the Spirit of Time."

Uncle crossed his arms and glared at me, making my smile go down.

"You know I have to punish you all," he sighed. "If I don't people could start questioning why. _Especially_ after _that_. So? Pick you're punishment."

We huddled up to decide what should happen. We couldn't pick something harsh but it couldn't be too easy either. After a minute we cam up with something we thought could work…

"Suspend us from lunch for a few weeks," Shawn asked.

"Fine," Uncle said after a moment of thought. "But you have to eat somewhere."

"How about McDonald's," Finn wondered excitedly. "We could grock it over there and be back before anyone knows."

"A few weeks?"

"A few weeks," I spoke.

"Okay."

"Hello," Shawn waved his arms. "Did the Board of Magical Beings forget that I have to pay for that? And I get my allowance from my parents, who are out of town, remember?"

"I'll handle your lunch fare. Just try to stay out of sight."

So after the rest of the day and the weekend that followed, Monday came, class continued without any accidents, uncle gave Shawn the money, and we went to get lunch. We even had a little extra to get drinks. Before, I never understood why Natasha never had lunch in the cafeteria, but guess who we found at McDonald's?

"Oh great," she dropped her head. "Why'd it have to bee you all?"

"I heard that," I crossed my arms.

"Please tell me you're here for a Power Stone."

"Let's check."

Nova, Shawn and I took out our stones and they began glowing. It was probably since they were in close range of each other. The stones glowed with their blinding colors of blue, yellow and orange. But deep within the sapphire, I saw a flicker of red. It was most likely from the restaurant though.

"That's one heck of a science trick," the cashier from last week told us.

"They're…very special diamonds," I said.

Natasha took the sapphire and put it behind her back. Shawn and Cosmos quickly hid the stones following her lead.

"So what can I get you?"

We told her our order from last time; with the exception of Marshall, Marceline, Jake and Cake. The cashier woman seemed to notice a similarity because she looked at us oddly again.

"You wouldn't happen to know a group of weirdoes that keep flipping around here would you?"

We looked at each other than looked around, laughing a little too suspiciously. The cashier lady didn't look convinced. We stopped laughing seeing as there really wasn't any point in it. We bowed our heads thinking she would rat us out…

"Wow. Nice to see something interesting happen in this boring town."

…but she surprised us.

"Y-you're not gonna t-t-tell any-o-one," Cosmos was confused like the rest of us.

"And ruin you're fun? What else do we have to do around here?"

"You can give us our food," Finn begged. "Lunch is over soon."

She handed Finn our lunch and he ran over to a table and chowed down. He really likes McDonald's apparently. Fionna, Cosmos and the Ice Kids had to practically take it from him. A man about 5"6' with brown hair and a grayish-black walked in. He stared at us like he was looking for something. Just a quick glance at his green eyes gave me an unnerving feeling that I knew him.

"Can I help you sir," the cashier lady asked.

"Can you break a ten," he asked.

He handed her a dollar and she gave him ten singles. He bumped into Natasha on his way out.

"Watch it," she warned him.

"Exactly my advice," he retorted.

When he turned around, I saw the sapphire in his hands. What would someone want with a sapphire other than money? Surely he couldn't have known about the Power Stones. When he left the door Natasha ran after him to get that stone back. Instead, she was ambushed by an Earth attack. The guy used the stone and trapped all but her head in the rising ground.

"He knows," I whistled.

Naturally we rushed out to lend a hand. All but Shawn, Cosmos and I went to fight the man; we tried to get her out. The only thing that seemed to even remotely break the hold was Shawn's grass swords.

"Nova," I said, "throw her in the air. Shawn, dice the rock."

"Are you crazy," Natasha shouted.

"Do you wanna stay there all night?"

I took her sigh as the signal to continue my plan. Nova stretched his hand out and pulled her casing from the ground. I nodded and he tossed her into the air.

"Sha-"

"Say no more Star," he stopped me. "Check out this new trick."

Shawn set loose his swords, except they were slanted to the side. He threw them both in the air, making them cut Natasha loose. Nova caught Natasha and Shawn caught his swords, turning them back into wristbands.

"Beginners luck is amazing," he smiled.

"When'd you learn that," I asked impressed.

"I saw it on TV so I wanted to give it a try. That was a perfect test."

Natasha punched him in the arm and marched over to the thief that was actually a skilled fighter. We couldn't take him down no matter how hard we tried. And to top off his fighting, he knew how to use the Power Stone. He even dished out the hidden ability. When the cyclone disappeared, he was long gone.

"Who was he," Oliver questioned.

"Lich," I growled.

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Good. Now they know.

Brenda: You're evil sometimes, you know that?

Teller16-djb: I'm not evil. I just have a devious mind sometimes.

Clockwork: Which is still something we have to worry about.

Teller16-djb: Well things are going to get a little complicated for the team now that they know what the Lich looks like on Earth.

Brenda: And the next chapter introduces another Power Stone. The hint for which one is hidden in the chapter.

Teller16-djb: Good. Reread the chapter.

Brenda: We need to find you some help.

Clockwork: _No one_ has that kind of time.

Clockwork & Brenda: See ya ar-

Teller16-djb: **Wait! **Can I tell 'em Clocks? Please? Please? Please? Please? Plea-

Clockwork: If it will shut you up, tell them.

Teller16-djb: Coming soon to a Fanfic near you, the whole Mixed Dimensions trilogy will be available in one giant story! And not only that, we added bonus features for your reading pleasure. Which includes and _is_ limited to: deleted scenes, extended scenes and the bonus short "Behind the Merge of Mixed Dimensions: Starring Finn and Shawn". That one's a favorite because I'll tell you where the idea of it came from…before it got out of control, anyway.

Brenda: You done?

Teller16-djb: **REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! **Okay I'm done.

Clockwork & Brenda: You're such a child Teller.

Teller16-djb: Good. Now we're on the same page.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See you around!


	12. Chapter 11: Controlled Chaos

A/N:

Brenda: Now another stone will join the story.

Clockwork: With a few complications.

Teller16-djb: The Lich lost all surprise and a little paranoid kid has a few ideas about it.

Clockwork: You?

Teller16-djb: No not me! Kinda.

Brenda: Who's more paranoid than you?

Teller16-djb: Someone who's almost just like me.

Brenda: Sasha?

Teller16-djb: I meant **SHAWN!**

Clockwork: Oh. Well you have to be more specific.

Teller16-djb: **ME?!** Alright, let me try this again. Shawn has a few ideas on their current situation. Better?

Brenda: Good enough for me.

Clockwork: Was that so hard?

Teller16-djb: Clockwork, I said it a million time before and I'll say it again. I…hate…you.

Clockwork: It was more like four thousand five hundred and six times, actually.

Teller16-djb: I hate you.

Clockwork: Seven.

Brenda: This chapter is named after one of Pipsqueak and my favorite comedy special; next to the Christmas one. Stop arguing and open, will ya?

Teller16-djb: Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 11: Controlled Chaos

No One's POV

The following two weeks had been oddly uneventful. Class didn't seem to interest the Ooaa gang like it used to, or the Pre-Wars for that matter. _Nothing_ seemed to really interest them like it used to. Things got so boring to them, even as the week brought on a surprise or two, they barely batted an eye. Shawn didn't even mind the minimal damage Finn and Jake caused to his house for the _James II _episode. They took a week off school to get things in order.

"So," Shawn called his friends' attention, "as you all know we came across the Lich a couple weeks ago. And since he's human, the only way he's gonna survive is-"

"Thievery," Natasha gritted her teeth.

"Ruining lives," the Vampires synchronized.

"**Damage**," the Candy Corn Kids asked.

"No. He'll survive if he _eats_. And how's he gonna eat?"

[Fishing,] Cake wondered.

[Dumpster divin',] Flambo questioned.

Star opened her mouth to translate but Shawn stopped her.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that none of them thought up money, right?"

[Scary,] they looked wide eyed at each other.

"Anyway, the only way he gets money is-"

They all opened their mouths.

"-JOB! Ha. Beat you to it. And I thought up five possible jobs he might have; each more evil than the last. Job one: lawyer."

"How is a lawyer evil," Natasha asked.

"Lying to win is cheating. And cheating is evil…" sometimes, he added quietly. "…the next job is an IRS Agent."

"What's that," Finn wondered.

"People who go to houses and collect money if they don't pay taxes. Kinda like a legal version of the mafia."

[Le-gal,] Flambo tilted his head. [Is dat some 'o dat dere Pre-War slang goin' around?]

"Job number three: he could work for any airline company. Making people wait forever is torture."

"When you're drugged in the hold of a plane, talk to me," Star joked.

"He could also be a Talent Agent. This one isn't really that evil, not including the fact that they take away the ten percent of the take from actual stars."

"Then why do you have it," Nova asked him.

"I was up at two A.M. thinking this up. The last one though, is the evilest of all."

Shawn had them on the edge of their seats. They all looked like small children, eyes full of curiosity. Not even a sliver a doubt that Shawn was overreaction came to their minds. They should've probably laughed at his answer if the situation wasn't so serious.

"The Lich…could disguise himself…as Oprah," Shawn spoke.

"Winfrey," Natasha asked loudly. "Are you completely out of it?"

"Think about it. She has, what, millions of dollars? And more on the way! She could be stopping a lot of problems but instead she gives out toys like Santa. I say she's up to something."

"I say you need a little more sleep Wolf boy," Marshall laughed.

Shawn sat on the couch with his arms crossed.

"It would be easier to find him if we didn't end up at McDonald's every time," Star slumped. "Do you think it was a Power Stone?"

"Every time we go there, we just get the other stones going," Natasha told her.

"Maybe that's it" Shawn exclaimed. "If we take just one stone we could get to the bottom of this! I say the Amber of Protection."

"What about the Topaz," Nova wondered. "I mean, if we leave it here, the Lich could find it. Couldn't he?"

"You're right. You know the drill, groups. Half of us goes, half of you stays. I'm going."

"Me too," Natasha stood. "I got a bone to pick with the bonehead."

"Wardens watch their family," Star stood.

"Can't miss the chance to watch this fail," Oliver put on his Ice Bands.

"Count us in," Olivia joined.

"Marshall, Marceline, you two want in," Shawn asked.

"Nah," Marceline waved him off.

"We'd rather stay here and…I don't know…learn about the TV here," Marshall looked around for an example.

"Good," Shawn opened the door. "Let me know what happened in the last few months I've been gone."

The group followed the glowing of the amber. As expected, they ended up at McDonald's. This time, having only one stone made it easier. Their plan to find whatever was at McDonald's was put off; a Lich sighting was successful however. The humanized Lich they had made acquaintance with two weeks prior seemed to have had the same goal they did.

A common goal can often bring enemies together…but seeing as _this_ enemy was after the destruction of everything that had ever and will ever exist, the chances of that happening to them was of the utmost unlikely.

Natasha was fully confident to give the Lich what for; after all, he did steal from and trap the most persistent member of Team Ooaa. It took the whole group they had formed just to hold her back.

"Let me go," the resistor whispered. "He's going to pay."

"He will," Shawn shushed. "Just wait."

"It won't do us much good if he finds us before we get the stone," Star murmured.

"How do we know there _is_ a Power Stone here," Ice Princess wondered.

"We haven't really seen proof of it," Ice Prince added. "We could just be running around here for nothing."

"I know what I saw," Star bared her teeth at them. "Trust me. We're right where we wanna be."

The Lich, having finished his perimeter check of the restaurant, concluded that the item he needed was inside. Having none of his regular powers at his disposal made his entrance ideas limited. The sapphire flashed blue turning his body into pure liquid. Once inside, the stone glowed, turned him back to his human form and he began his search inside.

"I'm not liking it," Shawn peered at the scene from the side of a building across the street.

"We'll be fine," Star joined him. "It's just like a food fight."

"Only we're facing a powerful enemy."

"Because facing at least eighty kids, plus Fishface Fisher, is too easy for you."

"Hey," Natasha whispered loudly at them. "Mission: butt kicking. Either the Lich or you two, but somebody's going to get one."

"But how do we get in?"

"Oliver, Olivia, there's a hatch on the roof. Get us up and we can use one of Shawn's knifes to get the lock open. Simple."

"It's a sword," Shawn defended.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Shawn carried Star, Ice Prince grabbed him, Ice Princess grabbed Natasha and the fliers landed them all safely on the roof. Shawn took out a sword and picked the lock after much effort.

"It's so much easier in Skyrim," he shrugged.

The young Ice Royals lowered them down to the floor. Looking around, the Lich was nowhere to be seen. Shawn was about to take a step forward when Natasha pulled him back. The looked at each other equally as mad, but both for opposite reasons. Shawn for being stopped, Natasha for Shawn's stupidity.

Natasha pointed to the surveillance camera hidden in the corner. Shawn gave her a thumb's up and they all proceeded to the basement in the shadows. Natasha would stop them from her position at the front whenever she thought she heard a noise. They made it to the restaurant's storage room as workers were making a delivery.

By this point they used extreme caution. One wrong step and they could be seen. What made it worse was that Shawn and Natasha weren't wearing their hats, so getting caught by the employees would mean a blown secret. They got a break when the last person there turned out to be the cashier they had spoken to numerous times before.

"Sophia," Natasha whispered.

The cashier looked around.

"Sophia," Natasha called.

The cashier's gaze caught on the familiar intruders.

"What are you-"

"**SHHH**," the group cut her off.

"Is there anyone else working right now," Shawn asked.

"No."

Natasha pulled her over to them. She struggled but Natasha held her mouth closed.

"Listen to me for a second. How do I say this in a way you'll understand? The bad man from two weeks ago is here and he's-"

She looked wide eyed at the girl, obviously in fear of that memory.

"We're looking for a diamond, like the ones we showed you. Remember? The ones that glowed?"

"Why does he want it," the cashier, Sophie, found her voice.

"He's trying to destroy the Earth with it," Ice Prince told her.

"Our world too," Ice Princess added.

The amber started to glow brightly, signaling something was close. They followed the rising glow until it lead to a box. More specifically, it lead under said box. Shawn lifted the box and saw a glowing red tile. He removed the tile with the aid of his sword, and held in his hands…

The Ruby of Mind Control.

"Well…well…well," the Lich slowly clapped from the door. "My job just became easier."

"Your dead," Natasha took out her sword.

"Too late."

The sapphire started to shine and Lichtenstein threw a fireball.

"Come on," Shawn smacked the amber. "Work you stupid rock!"

The fireball wasn't aimed at them. It passed overhead and hit something even more lethal to them: a gas pipe. The collision was hair trigger. The explosion made the whole building collapse in on itself. Lichtenstein survived due to his liquid trick. The heroes…

"Did I say 'stupid rock'," Shawn asked; he and the others were in a huddle underneath an orange semicircle that the Amber of Protection produced for them. "Because I meant 'good Power Stone'."

"Natasha," Sophie glared at her, "you and you're friends just blew up my job."

"No," she pointed past them. "He did."

Lichtenstein was _not_ happy with them now. The feeling was more that mutual, even Sophie found anger with him. The semicircle retreated leaving them out in the open of the debris. Fragments of flaming flint flung fast. Smoke smothered the surrounding scene.

To put the drama lightly, it was about to go down.

"Sophia-"

"Sophie," she cut Shawn off.

"'Sophie' then, get somewhere safe and take the ruby. We got him."

Shawn tossed the ruby to Sophie, but before she had the chance to catch it, a glowing blue rock hit it out of the air. It was obvious that Lichtenstein was behind it.

"Star, get Sophie outa here," Shawn's voice quavered.

"What about you," she asked to Sophie's surprise.

"We'll hold him. Run!"

Star shifted to Luna, which surprised the now unemployed cashier even more, and took her to find the lost red stone that was hidden in the rubble. Shawn thought back to when he first saw the orange Power Stone and made an anthromorphic rhinoceros cover his body; much to Lichtenstein's displeasure.

"This'll make a good temp for the sapphire," Shawn smirked.

Shawn pushed his heal against the ground and ran up the crater coated in compost to his archenemy. Lichtenstein's reaction was to send a literal wave at his, powered by the sapphire. Shawn jumped to allow the younger Ice Royals to freeze it over. They, along with a sword-baring Natasha, slid down to start their assault on the villain.

He strenuously dodged their strikes and returned his usage of fire. The covering ice melted under the rising heat and they fell into the now soaked pile of garbage. Shawn landed right behind Lichtenstein and began throwing punches. Lichtenstein managed to catch the slightly slowed down suit off guard and get him on his back.

Shawn thought of the armadillo, making it appear, so he could escape. Lichtenstein sent another earth attack at him, but missed when the boy rolled out of the way. More attacks came, he dodged them, and he realized that while he was playing tennis with these attackers, the ones who had left the fight were gaining ground on the Ruby of Mind Control.

The Power Stone glowed and unleashed a gust of wind that blew Shawn and Natasha off their feet. The Ice Prince and Princess however flew with the wind, around Lichtenstein, sending a Blizzard at him. That inadvertently did him more of a favor than harm, seeing as he ended up outside of the crater where the ruby was.

Luna and Sophie looked through the litter for the stone, Luna a little more than Sophie. Sophie had been the one to find it first though.

"Found it," she exclaimed, holding it up in triumph.

Using a bright flash of blue, Lichtenstein walked right up to the now blinded seekers of the stone and swiped it right out of Sophie's hand. He ran away, the blinding light ceasing.

"Get back here," Luna and Sophie yelled after him.

His response to the chase of all of his opponents was to use the stone to make everything around them darker than it was. Ice Princess, Ice Prince and Sophie were stopped. Then, he fired a wad of plasma at the ones who made it. Shawn was caught in the glob of goop. His last attack was the most powerful one he's used so far.

Water, Fire, Earth, Air, Light, Dark and Plasma all combined…created a cyclone of pure elements.

It twisted, turned, bended and swerved with Lichtenstein at the center of the hurricane, controlling it's every move. Star got caught in the tornado and was spat out into the goo Shawn was caught in. It was down to just two. Lich vs Natasha. Parton vs Lichtenstein. Just as he had intended.

In the only act of honesty that he would ever admit, Finn and Shawn were the only threats that even stood a slim _chance_ at bringing him down. If he could find a way to get between their friendship, he would take every opportunity presented. Natasha, like Star and Fionna, was as close to the skills of the hero and Pre-War as he could get. He knew full well how close they were, he had planned the battle out himself.

But life and plans don't always go hand in hand as everyone has discovered countless times. Fionna wasn't there, to start, meaning he would have no _direct_ way to get to him. Star and Natasha had shown up, so that was two points to get to Shawn in _his_ favor. Star proved to be a little more than the Lich could handle; odds are as Lichtenstein he might've failed even worse.

But then there was Natasha.

As a green puff of smoke, he'd heard a few things that no one knew he had. Being a green cloud meant that he couldn't act. So he planned. He went to Earth to destroy everything they cared about…but _again_…his plans were foiled by their arrival. So he _re-_planed.

How do you destroy an enemy? You attack them at the heart.

When Lichtenstein and Natasha were far enough away from everyone, he stopped running. Natasha saw this as the prefect time to strike, oblivious to falling into his trap. She held out her crystal sword and aimed for his back. Lichtenstein sidestepped and grabbed her sword's guard.

He ripped it out of her hands. He threw it to the ground in front of him. Natasha let out a gasp. He turned around to face her. His soulless green eyes piercing into her sky blue spirit pools. He pushed her to the ground. He held the ruby in front of her face.

"From this point until I say, you are under my command. I am your master. You will address me as Master. Do you understand me slave?"

Natasha tried her best to fight his attempt at controlling her, but that proved to be a tougher challenge each second.

"You will follow every order I give you. Do you _hear_ me slave?"

"N-no..." Natasha struggled.

"You will tell your friends you lost me and will not speak a word about your control. Is this registered slave?"

Natasha was in a momentary daze. The stone had been activated before, hence the easy usage. Lichtenstein was still powerful, even more so with mind control on his side. Natasha's eye's changed their pigment to red, matching the Power Stone's dye.

"Y…Yes Master."

"I release you for now," he put the stone in his pocket and disappeared from sight.

Natasha felt blood rush to her head and collapsed on the dirt.

"Natasha," Shawn yelled as they ran up to her. "What happened?"

Unbeknownst to any of them, her eyes twinkled red before turning blue again. She looked up at them, releasing a breath she had held in.

"I lost him," she answered, just as Lichtenstein commanded.

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Dun, dun, dun!

Brenda: I didn't see that coming.

Clockwork: Surprisingly _that_ was the best chapter so far.

Teller16-djb: So yeah, that happened. The Lich now has eyes on the inside. This'll get interesting.

Brenda: You can be evil sometimes.

Teller16-djb: _Sometimes_.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	13. Chapter 12: Foundations of a Family

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Going nowhere fast, we've reached the climax.

Brenda: What are you doing?

Teller16-djb: This is the climax chapter of the story so I thought the song fit. What do you think?

Clockwork: Don't quit your day job.

Teller16-djb: Okay folks. Just to get the record straight, the whole _Oprah_ thing is _**SHAWN'S **_paranoia talking. Not mine.

Brenda: I wonder where he gets it from.

Clockwork: She said with only sarcasm.

Teller16-djb: Thank you for the much needed narration, Time Brain. I used to be a little paranoid like Shawn when it came to TV and movies.

Brenda: A _little?_

Teller16-djb: Zip it you! When I made Shawn, well, I guess my paranoia got transferred to him too. In fact, all my Creates are some part of me.

Clockwork: But that's another story explanation. For now sit back, get your snacks ready and get ready to see _The Tower_.

Teller16-djb: Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 12: Foundations of a Family

Shawn's POV

"**WE'RE BACK**," Natasha slammed the door.

"Bad time," Marceline greeted.

"The Lich…got away with the stone."

All attention turned to us. Although, all they seemed to have been doing since we left was watch TV. I turned to Natasha, and was surprised when I saw her. She looked…_OKAY_ with the fact that the Lich escaped. I know we tried to cheer her up by telling her not to worry about it, but since when does she listen to _me?_

She used to, but that was in our KND days; I did outrank her. But since this whole Lich situation had her involved, she would only listen if it was a last resort. Something seemed a little off, but maybe it was a good thing. Maybe she was finally loosening up. It might've not been the best time, but I'd take calm Natasha over angry Natasha any day.

Nova joined us but he acted a little off too. He looked happy when he first walked in, but once he saw Natasha…his back arched, his hair stood up on end and he hissed.

"What's that smell," he covered his nose.

"Lich," Star answered him. "_Somebody_ got a bit to close to the Lich for comfort."

"And lost him," Sophie glared. "N-Nova? You talk too?"

"Oops," he shirked, metaphorically.

"Jigs up everyone," I waved to their confused faces. "She knows about ol' Bone Bag. She's on our side after what he did."

"What did he do," Marceline flew behind us. "Steal your tips? Make a mess that you had to clean up?"

"You're two out of three Marcie."

I heard the sound of the news playing, so I went to the living room. The others followed but I barely paid attention to them. For now, my attention was on the news. With our luck, the Lich attack would give us the leading story.

"We interrupt you programming to bring you this special news update," the reporter spoke again. "Tomas Burgan here with yet another report on the vigilante vandals. Behind me might seem like a meteor sighting, but is actually the sight of an explosion site of McDonald's."

"**NOOO**," Finn screamed. "**WHHHYYY?!**"

Subconsciously, we backed up away from Finn.

"There were no witnesses to the events that took place here. It could have easily just been a grease fire. But it doesn't take a detective to figure out that the explosion was another act of destruction caused by the vigilantes."

"**HEY**," we all, except for a blubbering Finn, exclaimed.

"Things have gone south of normal and peace ever since they arrived. And it seems we were better off without them here. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming."

I shut off the TV and watched Finn bawl on the floor. He was rolling around and muttering stuff. It would've been funny, but somehow it just wasn't. He stood up, grabbed my collar and shook me.

"**WHY?! WHY DOES EVERYTHING I CARE ABOUT LEAVE ME?!**"

"**CALM THE HELL DOWN**," I slapped Finn's face with every word I said. "**YOU STILL HAVE US! WE'RE YOU'RE FAMILY NOT SOME STUPID BURGER JOINT!**"

I stopped slapping him and we sat down. _All_ of us.

"Sorry for that buddy," I apologized. "But _never_ forget that we're here. So you lost McDonald's."

"And your Dad," Fionna added.

"And your arm _to_ your Dad," Jake put in.

"Thank you both for your help," I gritted my teeth at them. "Finn we're all gonna be fine. But if I ever see your Dad when this is over, I'm gonna kill him."

Finn laughed at that which made everything feel calmer.

"Yeah," he smiled. "And what's Martin gonna do now. I have both my arms."

Finn began to shake and Jake followed suit. We stood up and backed away. Star turned on the TV and same as always, their shaking was caused by the show.

"Ready to deal," I asked.

"Ready," everyone but Sophie replied.

"Ready," she asked. "Ready for what?"

"For that," Natasha gestured to the guys.

Finn's left arm retracted and a flower grew into its place. He moved around like he was looking for something. He started humming until he grunted and opened something with his flower arm.

"Oh," Finn repeated his cartoon self on the TV. "Parm, parm, parm. Asiago's like parm."

Finn went back to humming and walked into the kitchen. Then, he smashed his right arm through the table.

"Whoopsies."

"Come outta your trans so I can sock ya one," I said. "Flambo, you're a bad influence on me."

[Not my faults yous is impressionable,] the orange tabby shrugged.

"What did you say?! Star, what'd he say?"

"You're impressionable," she answered me.

"I'm a kid."

I looked to Sophie who looked completely shocked at all of us. She looked at Natasha and gestured to us with a wide jaw.

"Welcome to my world," she answered.

"Thanks a lot, Dad," Finn yelled.

"Maybe talking about it wasn't the best idea, right Shawn?"

"Whoopsies," I shrugged weakly.

"Finn," Jake came in the room. "What's going on? Is the spaghetti all—whoa! Finn, what happened?"

"I... messed up the spaghetti," Finn rubbed his head. "And then I got mad, and PB's candy arm exploded."

"Man, I knew that arm was bogus."

Note to self, ask the Princess what that arm was all about.

"Yeah, it wasn't the greatest. Sorry about the spaghetti, though."

"Man, don't worry about that. You just went through some outrageous beeswax from losing your favorite arm and etcetera. You can't just expect to bounce right back to normal."

"I can't?"

"He can't," I asked.

"Nah, man," Jake stretched his arms to grab a spoon some asparagus. "Listen. All these princesses donating all these gross fake arms…they mean well, but they're throwing you off your game! You got to go at your own pace. If you listen deep in your melon heart...that's where the real instructions are."

"If he was a human, Jake would make a great therapist," Natasha thought out loud.

"My melon wants to punch my dad in the face and steal his arm," Finn spoke.

"That's my boy," I patted him on the back.

"Well," Jake laughed, "those things are bad, so they can't be the real instructions, but you keep listening. Me…I'm going to go to the spaghetti store and buy a new mop head. I'll be back soon. Just remember…listen to your melon heart."

Jake walked back into the living room.

"Finn," I waved my hand over his head. "Your Dad's a butt. Sock him in the jaw."

"Shawn," Star put my hand down. "You are not a Jedi."

"Yet."

"Melon heart," Finn walked to the woods and lied on the floor, "melon heart...man, I don't know. It'd be so easy if I could just go find him…my dad that is. That portal he went through after ripping off my favorite arm went right to outer space. And outer space is up there somewhere...I'm told. Maybe Banana Man could help me build a rocket or something..."

Finn's arm started glowing. A transparent blue arm formed and made a small rock pile.

"…or some stairs or... something, something, something... or, or, or."

Finn noticed the rock pile he made and his new arm. He sat up and his arm a look through.

"Wow, it's like a…like a…like a magic Finn arm," he toughed his arm. "She's powerful. You must've exploded the candy arm before and made the rock pile just know. It's almost like I'm trying to tell myself something, like a message from my melon heart."

"Why can't we ever have a normal day," Natasha whined.

"Nor-mal," I asked.

"Is that slang," Star wondered.

-AT-

"Daddy's got an arm and baby's gonna harm his arm by tearing it off his dad," Finn sang. "Baby's building a tower into space. Space is where he's gonna find his dad. Daddy's got an arm and baby's gonna harm his arm by tearing it off his dad. Baby's building a tower into space. Space is where he's gonna find his dad. Daddy's got an arm, and baby's gonna harm his arm by tearing it off his dad."

Finn was acting a little crazy. He was just singing those words over and over, and his new arm was making things lift to the top of the junk-made tower so Finn could go to space. What I picked up from him is that his main idea is to build the tower and rip his Dad's arm off; which to me was the best idea he's ever had.

But that was just my opinion. Star was against it completely. Jake seemed to be on my side since he kept egging Finn on. Natasha knew that it was gonna end badly. She might've been right given our recent track record. So in the even that things went south, either Fionna or I would stop him.

"Goodnight buddy, I'm proud of you," Jake called up to him.

It looked like Finn wasted a whole day on the tower, which made me rethink my viewpoint. Granted Martin was the biggest jerk in Ooaa, not outranking the Lich or Magic Man, but Finn _did_ waste a lot of time trying to find him. And that song. That song Finn sang came back to mind.

'_Baby's building a tower into space. Space is where he's gonna find his dad. Daddy's got an arm and baby's gonna _harm_ his arm by _tearing it off his dad_.'_

Maybe it was going a bit too far. It's one thing to wanna punch him in the face, Glob knows he deserved it. But Finn was also a person who was excited to know where he came from. That guy, his "Dad", messed his mind up something fierce. And Finn looked like he was taking serious damage from it. And Earth didn't seem to make that any better.

"Should you handle this or should I," Fionna asked me.

"No," I shook my head, still watching Finn. "I did this. He probably wouldn't have done it if I didn't say anything. I gotta fix this."

I jumped onto the tower and began scaling it. It had a lot of stones and rocks at a form, even a few trees. It was very high, but I couldn't back down. I needed to get him down. When I got to the point where I past the highest tree in the woods, Finn looked like he was coming to me. He was _falling_.

I reached my arm out and grabbed him. In turn, I started to fall to. Jake, Sophie, Natasha, Star and Fionna were the only ones down there. The others were at home to give me an update. Fionna ran around us reaching her arms out to catch us. Finn landed on top of her, and I landed on top of Finn. I got up and put him against a tree. When I helped up Fionna we saw Finn wake up.

"Daaaad," he yelled. "Ah. Oh man. My nog master_._Hello? Hell-oh!"

Finn stood up and walked towards me, laughing to himself. I didn't like the way this was going.

"Hey, hey dad," he held back a laugh.

"N-n-no," I backed up. "Wait Finn. I'm not-"

"Gotcha," he punched me with a now spiky new arm. "Ha, ha, hee, hee, hee, hee."

He walked over to me and started pulling my right arm.

"Give, give it. Give me the...give me give it. Give me the..."

"Finn," I struggled. "Cut the crap! That's my favorite arm! It hurts!"

"Butts," Finn stopped pulling and walked away. "Butts."

"Okay," I rubbed my arm. "Now I'm _glad_ he had a change of heart about his Dad."

"Hate to say I told you so," Natasha cut in. "Who am I kidding? No I don't."

"See what revenge gets you Shawn," Star sat beside me.

"Finn almost ripping my arm off," I asked.

"That. And it makes you crazy so you do things you wouldn't normally do. Revenge is never the answer."

"But payback hurts. Finn'll find that out when he wakes up.

I looked over to the hero and saw that his new arm was gone. That was a shame. It could've been useful, _ESPECIALLY_ against the Lich. I looked up to see the tower. That was gonna be a problem.

"Do you know what to do with this thing," I asked.

"Yes I do," Finn said, almost like he was answering me.

Finn grabbed a rock from the base of the tower and the thing started to pile over. I grabbed Jake and we all got out of the way when it came down in the direction of the highway and our town.

"Let's worry about this tomorrow," Fionna suggested.

"To the house," I walked.

-AT-

_VEEP. VEEP. VEEP._

"What," I answer my communicator at midnight.

"WHAT THE GROG?! MY ARM IS GONE AND YOU DON'T EVEN CARE?! HERO OR NOT YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS SHAWN PARKER!"

"So much for a good night's sleep," I told Nova.

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Can't take it back.

Clockwork: It's too late.

Brenda: We've reached the climax.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: Climax.

Teller16-djb: Okay now that that's out of the way I can tell you something. There are many different forms of hypnosis.

Clockwork: The Lich now possess two.

Brenda: How two?

Clockwork: The Ruby of Mind Control and the ability to turn into a baby.

Brenda: Since when can he do that?

Teller16-djb: Anytime he wants. His cuteness doesn't affect Shawn or Finn though, since both of them were more than willing to get rid of him in baby-form. And he still has control over Natasha, he just doesn't activate it until he thinks it's right.

Clockwork: We're getting closer to the special chapter and the last hint will come along soon.

Teller16-djb: The last hint is a big one because it gives away the guest star kind of. So until then, keep reading, don't forget to review, and…

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	14. Chapter 13: A Frown Upside Down

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Another scrapped episode gets a reboot.

Brenda: Which one?

Clockwork: _The Helmet of Thorogon_.

Brenda: Are you making things up now?

Teller16-djb: It's a real episode. Or, _was_ a real episode.

Brenda: About?

Teller16-djb: Just watch and learn. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 12: A Frown Upside Down

Shawn's POV

"Thomas Burgan reporting live from the scene of a horizontal structure going from the McDonald's crater, pass the highway and to the woods," he reported.

"Won't this guy ever leave us alone," I asked. "It's been a week."

"At least it's not me," Marshall shrugged. "But, no one can make me look bad."

"Didn't you get punched by a girl," Nova tilted his head.

"Yeah. But-"

"No buts," I laughed. "You just lost to a cat. Your argument is invalid. Accept it."

"We've located the point of origin to the woods past the highway. Why it was built is still in debate between officers, officials and a few conspiracy theorists."

"Quit telling people our biz kid," Jake told me.

"You think I did it? I saw it go down. Fionna and I agreed to deal with it later."

"Well it wasn't me."

"I didn't know it was built," Marshall supplied.

"I didn't know I made it here," Finn reminded us.

[Don't look at me,] Flambo shook his head.

"**I DIDN'T DO IT**," Jolly said from my shoulder.

So if I didn't do it, and Jake didn't do it, and Marshall didn't know, and Finn didn't realize, and Flambo shook his head, and we all _know_ Nova wouldn't dream of it. We looked to Oliver. He didn't answer before.

"What," he shrugged. "I was bored."

"Quit telling people our biz kid," Jake and I synchronized.

"As of last week, no one can leave the city from the highway. What this means is that no one can enter or exit the town without first going all the way around it. The trip around is at least a forty-five minute drive, so all those who have business outside of town should plan accordingly. And deconstruction of the structure is now estimated at fifty thousand dollars."

At that, Finn looked guilty. It wasn't really his fault, I mean he didn't know he was building the tower here too, but he must've felt responsible. I was too, deep down. I was the one who brought up attacking his dad, and I surely didn't stop him when he was building. In fact, the more I thought about what I could've done, the worse I felt.

"It's been a week Shawn," Finn said. "And every day I feel plopped."

"That's because you're a good person," I patted his back. "_Believe me_, I feel just as bad-In fact, I feel _worse_ than you do."

"We have to do something," Jake laughed. "The news guy looks really angry."

"So what, I'm supposed to come up with everything? It's gonna take a giant to clean up this mess."

"Hmm," Marshal for once looked thoughtful. "There might be a way…but you wouldn't be interested."

"If you don't tell me I'm gonna-"

"Hold Wolfie. There might be something that could make you bigger. It might not exist here but-"

"Marshall Lee!"

"It's the Helmet of Thorogon!"

We both turned to Oliver. He looked really excited about what he'd said that cut us off. Oliver was an unknown enemy of mine back in Ooaa, but since we're on Earth…and there is no more Ooaa…Oliver seemed to be a genius like Olivia. He didn't get that many chances to show me he was on my side, so add that to the fact that I had no idea what the _Helmet of Thorogon_ was, I let him speak.

"What's the Helmet of Thorogon," I showed my interest.

"It once belonged to a giant birdman named Thorogon," Oliver acknowledged my curiosity. "Thorogon was a brave and noble warrior who fought for his kingdom. He was said to be so fierce he fought enemies with nothing but his bare hands and helmet. One day, an evil ruler of a kingdom challenged him to a duel. The ruler cheated and Thorogon made it so both of them paid a price. The ruler turned into a rare monster called a Snarling Bloodthirsters, and Thorogon lost his size. His helmet, the only way to return to normal."

"So to shorten it up for people who don't have time to listen to it," Marshall stuck his tongue out at Oliver, getting the gesture returned by the Ice Royal, "Anyone who wears to old hat becomes a giant."

"Huh," I smiled. "That's convenient. Brainstorm! Marshall, Oliver, Jolly and Flambo, go to Natasha's place to ask Olivia, Holly, Molly and Marceline to help you get the helmet."

"I didn't volunteer."

"I know. That's why you're going. You're group has barely done anything the whole time you've been here. And I think it's high time to earn your keep."

Okay is it me or for a second there did I just sound like Natasha?

"And what if I say no," Marshall challenged me.

I wanted to tell him I would send him back home, but then I remembered that his home wasn't there anymore; only Ooo. I don't know how traveling-across-dimensions really works, but sending him back to a world that didn't exist might've been a really bad idea. So since I couldn't figure out a comeback, I pushed them out the door.

"And don't come back without that helmet," I shut the door.

No One's POV

"Where are we going again," Marceline questioned.

Two hours spent flying seemed to take its toll on her; and everyone else on the trip for that matter. It wasn't like taking a flight for the sake of a flight. It was a mission that _required_ a flight, making it not as enjoyable as it would've been otherwise. The group seemed to find different was to annoy each other to pass the time, be it the increasingly obvious questions or the unwanted horseplay. It wasn't their best flight.

"For the fiftieth time today," Ice Prince rubbed his temple, "were going to a mountain to find the Helmet of Thorogon."

Definitely not the best road-trip, or cloud-trip, in their lives. Flambo and the kids scurried up and down Marceline's bat back much to her rage of protests. They needed to land and quite possibly get as far away from each other as they could. In the now sea of mountains, Ice Prince knew he had found just the right one. What made this mountain stand out? It had the highest peak, it was separated from the other mountains in their current ecosystem, and it was the only mountain he could identify with an opening.

He dived down to the base of the mountain. Ice Princess and the Vampires were confused when he didn't return so they followed five meters behind him. Ice Prince landed at the foot of the light consuming cave, waiting for his group to land.

"**IS THIS THE PLACE**," Molly wondered.

"Yep," he answered.

"**IS IT COMPLETELY DARK IN THERE**," Jolly marveled.

"Yep."

"**ARE WE GOING IN THERE**," Holly quivered.

"Yep."

With them standing by his side, Ice Prince took the first step into the cavern. Using their powers, he and Ice Princess made light glow from their hands; one Ice-Magic-hand-light for both of them. Having inhuman senses and in-Candy Corn senses in the circumstance, Flambo and the Vampire Royals were able to see in the dark grotto that surrounded them. Rocks upon rocks they passed, getting farther and father from their escape. Out of no where, something scuffled along the ground at a fast rate, making the group jump.

"**WHAT WAS THAT**," Jolly asked.

"A Snarling Bloodthirster," Ice Princess replied. "Some call them Chimeras. Only one lives in their lifetime, like a phoenix."

Another scuttle forced them into a wall as they turned around. They heard it coming; slowly it came. As it got nearer, the Vampires could hear the multiple heart rates speeding up. They all closed their eyes out of a shared fear of seeing the most horrifying beast they'd ever witness. That's what fear does, it makes unscary things scary the more you think about the bad that could come of it. When the Snarling Bloodthirster stepped forward…

It was _cute_.

The Chimera was no more the size of and orange. It had pink fuzz covering its body, yellow eyes, small and red bird wings, dark pink ears and a string of a tail with a red tuft on the end.

"Nooo," Marshall groaned his disapproval. "It was supposed to be cool and toothy. What's this puffball gonna do? Tickle us to death?"

The "puffball" in question surprised the living-dead out of the Vampire King. It started to shift until it looked like a dog with purple bat wings, an arrow tail and a real yellow bird grew out of it's head. Then the Chimera lost the bird and its fuzz, turning sleek. Next the Snarling Bloodthirster re grew a bigger bird and a spiky set of teeth. The beast's final form was a razor-toothed, bird-less, arrow-tailed, white-on-top-and-pink-on-bottom monster.

"Better," Marshall gave a thumb's up.

The Snarling Bloodthirster grabbed Marshall by his plaid shirt, holding him in the air before it threw him away. He landed with an out-of-character-for-a-rock plop. The rest of them looked to the stalking beast ready to take him out. Ice Princess made the floor slip behind them before they jumped to Marshall. Ice Princess being the last one to go was the target for the Chimera's teeth. Ice Prince shot at the rocks above them, making one crash on top of the Bloodthirster and release his grip.

Ice Princess fell into Ice Prince as they both landed in water. Water surrounded a glowing mount of helmets that was lit from a hole large enough. Ice Prince sat them up and looked at her leg. It had been bitten badly, blood still oozing from it. She saw the look of sympathy wash over him and sat in the water.

"I'll be fine," she told him. "You and I both know I can heal myself."

"But-"

"Oliver, go find the helmet."

Reluctantly, he nodded. It was no use arguing with her at that point. He rose to join the others in the search. Marshall being right next to her saw how she healed herself. She started by taking off her navy blue belt and tying it on her leg, above where the bite was. That would start to stop the flow of blood temporarily. Next she lifted her pant on the bleeding leg and she, a surprising move to Marshall, lifted the water to her bite before freezing it over to provide a cast. Marshall didn't see the slight cringe on her face as she did so. She put down her pant leg and sat in thought.

"Do you want me to mend your cut," she asked him.

"Uh…no," he shook his head. "Vampires don't need help."

"Suit yourself."

Marshall had taken a cut in the chest by the Bloodthirster. He had no blood to give of course but it still stung. Knowing he wouldn't admit he needed help, Ice Princess lifted the water to his chest in a swift move before frosting it momentarily. Marshall's wounds would be faster to heal than hers. Marshall let out a quiet surprised and annoyed yelp.

"Ah," he said. "Damn those lying bastards at Johnson and Johnson."

Marceline heard the comment and laughed internally. The search for the Helmet of Thorogon was in no way as easy as they thought it would be. The helmet pile they dug through contained thousands of headwear. Those were decoys which many who made it that far mistook for the real thing. But this group could tell the difference between the fakes and the real thing.

"**WE FOUND IT**," The Candy Corn Kids erupted.

Flambo dove into the pile, twisting and turning within the hat collision, and pulled them and the _real_ Helmet of Thorogon out with him. Having found the helmet, they thought their problems were over. The mountain began to cave in on itself. Ice Prince, Marceline and Flambo jumped off the pile of helmets. Marshall joined Marceline and Flambo in their run to the exit. Ice Princess wrapped her arm around Ice Prince's neck and they hurried for the escape way.

They climbed to the entrance of the hat trap and made their way through the hallway of rocks; Oliver keeping a light on his spare hand for vision. They almost made it, the light was visible, but then Ice Princess heard a whimpering sound. Ice Prince turned his light to see the Snarling Bloodthirster caught between a rock and a hard place. _Literally_. Knowing she couldn't leave even this monster behind a collapsing mountain, she attempted to move the rocks.

Ice Prince joined her in doing so, the rock beginning to roll off the Chimera's paw. It looked at the pair wide-eyed in a mix of emotion between unbelieving, gratitude and increasing fear as the mountain began to quake.

"Follow us," Ice Princess called to the Bloodthirster, causing it to comply.

They no longer needed the hand light as the entrance got bigger with each step. More rocks fell behind them, a motivation to pick up pace. Oliver saw a rock begin falling to block the exit. He froze the ground with his free hand and pushed Ice Princess and the Snarling Bloodthirster to the other side of the entry before the rock ceiled him in.

The group that made it stared in disbelief that Ice Prince had been trapped. Even the Chimera felt a pang of guilt that the one to go was the one he had tried to originally attack. The mountain was visibly shrinking by the second. No words of protest, no words of solace, no words at all. The entrance froze over bringing a jolt to the grievers.

"HADOUKEN," Ice Prince shouted, shattering the door.

"**HE MADE IT**," the group cheered.

-AT-

"Another day wasted on this thing," a worker complained. "Looks like the taxes is going to this."

"Those vigilantes are going to pay for this," the police chief growled from his car. "Damage upon. Makes you sick how they say they're _"helping us"_, eh Dooly?"

"Right Hawke," the deputy replied.

"The next time I see them Dooly, next time, I'm gonna-"

"Ehem," the voice of a girl in a white fox hat startled him. "Is that any way to talk to your allies?"

"Allies? You kids are-"

"Trying to help," the girl in a white bunny hat, told him.

"By help you mean-"

"Cleaning up the mess we've made," a boy in a white wolf hat gestured behind him.

The Helmet of Thorogon rested on a now giant Finn's head. He, along with the bat versions of Marceline and Marshall Lee with and added Brauggi controlled by Ice Prince _and_ Ice Princess, lifted the tower. The retreated to the woods to put the parts of the tower back to where they originated.

"Chief," a boy in a white cat hat smiled brightly. "We aren't your enemies."

"We really _are_ trying to help everyone," the fox hat girl told him.

"We just have an awkward way of showing it," the bunny hat girl rubbed the back of her neck.

"So what'd ya say Chief Hawke," the wolf hat boy held out his hand. "Friends?"

"You four have two minutes before I go out and look to arrest you again, vigilantes," he spat.

A/N:

Teller16-djb: Hawke is very mean.

Clockwork: They _did_ destroy everything.

Teller16-djb: But he's so mean.

Brenda: Next chapter will be the last hint for the special guest star chapter.

Teller16-djb: **BOOYAH**! Finally getting the finale going.

Brenda: You can't just sit there and be normal, can you?

Teller16-djb: Nor-mal?

Clockwork: Is that slang?

Brenda: Why do I bother?

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	15. Chapter 14: Background

A/N:

Brenda: Pipsqueak, I feel like your writing is starting to get better.

Teller16-djb: Thanks Sissy. Now then, on to business.

Clockwork: We have given you brief clues to what Natasha's life is like.

Teller16-djb: Hooray for Easter Eggs!

Brenda: Okay. This chapter kind of let's you see what it's really like.

Teller16-djb: So sit tight and enjoy the flight. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 13: Background

No One's POV

"Why do we have to go to school today," Fionna rubbed her eyes.

"We have to keep a cover," Shawn told her. "Meeting with the Chief of Police was probably not the best idea I've ever had."

In truth, it was. Shawn had let him meet them at what he thought was the right time. It was close to nighttime, they had their hats on and other than Shawn holding his hand out to Police Chief Hawke, darkness hid them well. Their voices were something to be thought as a problem, but Hawke was too angry with the kids he hadn't realized he knew two of them.

And Dooly? Well…he would understand basic math faster.

Shawn, with paranoia lingering a bit on the unstable side, had made them go to school. He didn't like it also, but he thought it needed to be done to keep their cover. Not only that, Shawn needed to have more people around other than his friends. He never talked to anyone accept them, granted, but having too much time with them messed with his sanity.

'_Sooner or later, they have to know,'_ he was sure.

The source of the Royal -appointed leader's stress was his secret about Aaa. Nova was the only one who knew about it, and he had his own thoughts. He hadn't had as much stress as Shawn, but he still felt bad for Fionna, Cake and Marshall. He felt guilty for not telling anyone, Star could tell from his shifting behavior whenever Adventure Time was mentioned. From what she knew, he would tell her when he's ready.

Lunch had come, same as always. They made it through their classes tiredly from the lack of sleep. They did what they had done on the Ooaa gangs first time there. They got their lunch, talked for a bit, and left Shawn, Luna and Cosmos to each other while they went to their other groups. It was partly important for them to mingle with other kids, in Shawn's opinion. He was oblivious to the real effect it was taking on them.

There was only one thing that made that lunch period different, Natasha was there. The whole room fell into a ghostly silence from the sight of her, as if she were completely new to the school. Finn and Fionna looked ready to laugh at how quiet it got over one student, but they didn't truly understand school from a kid's perspective.

Natasha, trying her best to ignore the looks of surprise, retrieved her lunch from the normal acting cafeteria workers. Natasha hadn't sat in the lunchroom at all. She had spent time away from everyone so she wasn't mistaken as "weak". It's how she managed to intimidate her debate competitors. Having a reputation of being cold made her a force to be reckoned with.

Cosmos had the look of the excited kitten he was written all over his face. He had never seen Natasha eat in the cafeteria and was hoping she would sit with them. They were kind of family, why would she have any reason not to sit with them. To his surprise, she left the room after getting her food. His face fell from sad to confusion while the others in the large room shook off the shock and resumed the noise.

"Why wouldn't she sit with us," Cosmos wondered.

"She…probably needs time to adjust," Luna thought for something to say. "She's kinda new to cafeterias."

"And we did sort of get her lunch spot blown up," Shawn admitted. "Sophie's still mad at us. Who knows how Natasha feels about it."

Shawn felt the feeling of being observed. Not by Star/Luna, or Clockwork/Principal Eastman, or the Lich/Lichtenstein, this was new. He looked over his shoulder and came to face a boy with dirty blonde hair, wearing a green shirt, blue shorts and red shoes. The boy looked back at Shawn nervously, then speed-walked out of their sight. Cosmos stood up, making Shawn and Luna looked at him instead of where the boy disappeared to.

"Where are you going," Luna asked him.

"I wanna make sure Natasha okay," Cosmos spoke confidently.

Luna knew that it was something he had to do. Cosmos left the room and saw the boy from earlier talking to Natasha who was sitting on the stairs with her lunch and a book. At the sight of Cosmos, he yelped and ran up the steps. Cosmos tilted his head and walked up to her.

"Why did Cyrus run when he saw me," Cosmos asked her, sitting in front of the girl.

"He doesn't know you've…changed," she chose her words.

"Oh. What are you doing out here?"

"Studying."

"Studying what?"

"My debate topic."

Cosmos' curiosity urged him to peer at the cover.

"Friends? Why do you need to study-"

"NOVA! STUDYING!"

"O-okay Mom," he ran off to the cafeteria.

"AND I'M NOT YOUR-"

Too late, he left the hall. She sighed. Her debate topic was how personal influences affected teens. She had already done her research on family and switched to friends. The debate was going to be held in New York, New York. She had to find her own transportation, but being the school's representative, they gave her a pardon on the school work. She would usually finish her research early, but having Ooaa involved with Earth left her little time most days.

She had resorted to reading at night when everyone was asleep. There would be no interruptions, but she tended to take it overboard. Most nights she went without sleep. And on the nights she slept, she had nightmares. Nightmares on her encounter with the Lich. He used magic that was so powerful, her brain hurt just relaying what happened after he pushed her down. As hard as she tried, she couldn't remember the gap in between her push and his escape. She knew something was missing, but she couldn't pinpoint it.

Another school day passed. Thankfully it was Friday so they could enjoy the weekend. Natasha could only relax for a night before her trip was scheduled. For once, Shawn had nothing to do. He was becoming antsier to tell them the secret every time he looked at Marshall, Fionna and Cake. He fought for an answer and he settled on visiting Star to tell her about Aaa. If anyone could help him do the right thing, it was Star. The only issue was how to find her.

"Brainstorm! Hey Nova," he jumped out of bed quietly. "Can you take me to Natasha's?"

"You…_want_ to go there," the black and white tabby asked. "Are you feeling alright?"

"We gotta tell Star…the thing."

"What thing?"

Shawn gave him a deadpanned look that clearly asked the question "really?".

"Oh. _That_ thing. Well…I guess I could take you there. B-but you have to be really careful. Natasha would be mad with me if she found out I told you where she lives."

"Fine. I won't tell her you helped."

Nova looked at him skeptically. He wasn't sure whether or not he should take him, but he also wanted a somewhat clear conscience. He hopped to the window and pushed it open. He shushed Shawn to follow his lead. They had to travel secretively if they were going to go to Natasha's house. When they came across a mansion, Nova stopped.

"We're here," he sadly smiled. "Home."

"Y-y-y," Shawn couldn't believe it.

"Shawn? What's wrong?"

"She's, you, you're both _LOADED?!_ All this time and neither of you offered to pay for lunch?!"

Nova took off into a sprint towards the house. Shawn glared at the fleeing tabby before turning his gaze back to Nova's home. He climbed the gate with stealth, but making a not-so stealth-like drop, and running up to an open window. Nova climbed through before Shawn. The intruders were met by Puffball the Chimera. Seeing the trespassers, the Bloodthirster switched between his forms. Quietly, they ran to another room. A room occupied by Natasha.

"Didn't I say knock firs-" she looked up from her book. "WHAT ARE _YOU_ DOING HERE?!"

"We um," Nova looked around. "We w-wanted t-t-to, uh…"

"Nova, Lacelot, Parton."

Nova metaphorically shrank. Shawn stood in between allowing Nova to escape the room as fast as his legs could carry him. Shawn tried his best to keep a calm air flowing.

"Why didn't you tell me you were rich," he asked.

"You wouldn't get it," she sat up.

"Get what?"

Shawn sat next to her. She didn't give him the curtsey of staring back at his gaze, instead finding the floor suddenly more interesting.

"Five."

"Huh," he didn't understand.

"I've been to five different schools in my life. Every time I would make a friend, or, get someone to know how I live…I didn't know whether or not to trust them. When your rich, people tend to like you better for your stuff. It made me wonder if they even liked me at all. So, I promised not to let anyone else know. But you didn't give me much choice when I got back."

Shawn thought on what to say for a moment.

"Well I don't like you because of your stuff," he laughed. "I'm actually mad you didn't tell me sooner. You could've saved _me_ some money."

She smiled at his comment, still not looking up. Shawn didn't know what else to say. He had no idea what could make her feel better. He was being honest, he didn't like her better now that he found out she was rich. Instead he was curious as to _how_ she got rich. Looking around her room, he saw a picture on he mantle.

"Hey," he smiled, "there's someone I haven't seen in a while."

_That _got a reaction from Natasha, though he hadn't paid attention to it. The picture was of Natasha, her father and her mother standing in front of her parents candy shop.

"I remember that," Shawn realized. "It was the day we met. What happened to your mom? I don't see her around anymore."

"She passed a month after my decommission," Natasha sighed. "Dad remarried a year after business took off to...all this."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know-"

"Its fine. Really. It was nice knowing her while she lasted."

Shawn surprised her with a hug. He truly felt sorry for bringing it up. Natasha, though surprised at the gesture as she was, surprised him more by returning the gesture. The door opened with surprised them _both_. Sophie was about to say something, but the sight before her stumped her train of thought.

"Am I interrupting something here," she tried not to laugh.

The two looked at each other before they broke off as fast as they could. Standing up but flustered.

"We...were just...uh," Shawn refused all eye contact.

"Nothing," Natasha crossed her arms and looked down. "We were doing nothing."

"Right," Sophie let her smile show. "Quick turn on the TV."

Shawn hadn't noticed the TV in front of her bed. Natasha went to her mantle and clicked on her TV. Sadly for Sophie, only the end of the commercial she tried to show them played.

"New York Comic Con," Shawn said aloud. "Brainstorm."

A/N:

Teller16-djb: There's the hint.

Clockwork: So by this point you should be able to guess who the guest is.

Brenda: It really isn't hard to guess.

Teller16-djb: Well, until next time.

Teller16-djb, Clockwork & Brenda: See ya around!


	16. Chapter 15: Mind Wipe

A/N:

Teller16-djb: **ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP!**

Brenda: Someone help me escape the madness.

Teller16-djb: Clockwork tried telling you it would be like this.

Brenda: Is there a timeline where I listened to him?

Clockwork: Seven actually. He showed me over the summer.

Brenda: What's it like not dealing with you?

Teller16-djb: It's nice. You sleep late on weekdays and watch old cartoons on weekends.

Brenda: I had to watch you didn't I? Oh well, time for the next chapter!

Teller16-djb: Oh yeah. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 15: Mind Wipe

No One's POV

"What's Comic Con," Finn wondered.

"It's a place that might have the answer to stopping the Lich once and for all," Shawn packed.

The previous night had given him an idea. Who better to speak to about how to get rid of a problem, than the one who _created_ the problem?

"Do we have to go," the Ooaa hero complained.

"Yes Finn," Shawn put on his pack. "If you guys are there it will make me seem a lot more credible."

Everyone was waiting outside for them. Finn, on behalf of all the lazier members of their group, was assigned to find some way to make Shawn call it off. Finn did try his hardest to make him reconsider, but he knew that when Shawn had an idea, he was set on completing it. And with or without them, Shawn was going to finish _this_ one.

"We can't go there like this," Finn gestured to his green bag.

"My friend, you are wrong," Shawn shook his head. "Comic Con is like…cartoon _central!_ Walking in there with your school clothes would probably blow our cover. And…you guys can go full Adventure Time there, without hiding it."

Shawn laughed to himself. No one would believe them anyway, except if Jake used his powers. The plan he had seemed simple. Get in, ask about the Lich's weaknesses, get out, beat the Lich. Shawn was more of a big picture thinker, rarely stopping to check for cracks in his plans. This was both a good and a bad thing, mostly since the absence of the Lich.

The Lich had been surprisingly quiet. No reading on his Power Stones, no attempt at using his mind control over Natasha. It was almost like he had given up. But in battle, the quietest times are the most dangerous. And the Lich wasn't one to give up so easily, _especially_ when he was winning.

Shawn persistently locked the door of his house. He heard a growling noise he recognized. He looked down to see the final form of the Snarling Bloodthirster. A full set of teeth, narrow eyed, looked like it would go off on a hair trigger. Shawn hid behind an equally scared Finn, pushing the hero forward.

"What the stuff Shawn?!"

"You said _you_ wanted to be leader. _Lead me_ out of this mess!"

The Chimera looked ready to pounce them, but stayed still. Olivia walked up to the beast and pat its head.

"It's okay Puffball," she soothed. "They're friends."

The Bloodthirster was calmer next to her. Shawn and Finn shared a look of curiosity with each other before looking to the girl and her pet monster.

"Who's Puffball," Shawn asked concerned.

"This little cutie here," she grabbed the Chimera's cheeks and shook both of their heads.

"She calls that cute," Finn whispered to Shawn, eyeing the teeth of the Bloodthirster.

"I wonder if that makes Oliver ugly to her," Shawn laughed quietly.

"Puffball," Olivia held its head straight. "These are my friends. You do not attack them, okay? Biting is a no-no."

The Snarling Bloodthirster grumbled to them, then changing its form to its original. Finn, having not been with Shawn to see it first change in front of a human, was shocked that such a little thing could turn into such a dangerous threat.

"_That's_ why I named it Puffball."

"Why do I have to come," an unknown voice asked.

Shawn, Finn, Olivia and "Puffball" looked over to see the cause of the voice. It was the boy who spied on him, getting dragged by Natasha and Sophie.

"You again," Shawn shouted.

The boy yelped before hiding behind Sophie.

"You know them Cyrus," she asked.

"Kinda," he said quietly.

"Kinda," Shawn asked. "He was spying on St-I mean, _Luna_, Cosmos and I yesterday."

"You were talking about my sisters. I wanted to-"

"Hold up!"

Shawn waved his hands with his eyes closed. He opened them and pointed at Sophie, Natasha and "Cyrus".

"Let me get this straight," his finger shifted between them. "You three are siblings?"

Natasha nodded.

"Alright. Well I'm not sure the kid should come with us. Or even Sophie for that matter. Nothing personal, this is just too important for you both to tag along."

"Oh no," Sophie moved past him. "I have plans for that bucket of bones."

"I see where you get your rage from 38."

Natasha glared at him. She took Cyrus by the arm and followed their older sister.

"Was it something I said," Shawn asked Finn, who shrugged in response.

-AT -

Have you ever had just one moment in your life that you wanted to erase? A bad school photo, a scary looking haircut, a look at something creepy that sticks to your brain for days? What if you had the power to erase those memories from others and/or yourself? Would you use it for good or bad or selfishly?

The Fluorite of Memory Erasing is the brother stone of the Ruby of Mind Control. Both posses mind altering magic. Neither is evil nor altogether good, but they can be used both ways. In the hands of an all-powerful super-being, the Fluorite can be used mostly to create mental chaos. In the hands of a naive child, it could be used just the same but innocently.

Malaya, the possessor of this Power Stone, is nothing more than an eight year old child in the eyes of a passerby. To those who know her, she's a playful child who's best friends with mischief. Not that she goes looking for it; trouble just seemed to be drawn to her like a magnet.

The Fluorite has been multiple things in the past two years she's had it on a golden link chain around her neck. A tool, a weapon, a projectile, an enemy. Malaya could never seem to tell when it would go off having no experience with that kind of ancient magic. Most of the time it would go off just by walking near her mother, who wore the Emerald of Super Ability, other times it would go off if she tried to forget or want other to forget.

Malaya and the Fluorite were a combination of trouble. This day in Brooklyn was no different. This day had something off about it, she could tell. After playing with her friends, she found herself feeling that she and her mother were being watched. Her mother looked behind them to see a strange looking figure.

This figure had a grey rock as a head, the rock itself being cut out to look almost like a jack-o-lantern. The figure wore a shadow-like full-body suit with a metal utility belt across the right side of its chest and a grey ghost-copying cape trailing behind it. All and all, the figure looked like a walking Halloween decoration.

That didn't change the gravity of the situation that it was following them. Malaya pointed to an alleyway and her mother rushed the girl inside. The stalker followed in behind them. The two ran as far as they could in the dark of the alley, the mother carrying the daughter and still moving at a fast rate.

The stalker didn't give up. He used the shadows to his advantage and bridged the gap in between them. Reaching a dead end of the lane, the mother turned around and her daughter jumped off her back. To their surprise, the figure conjured a fireball in its hands. The mother backed up not knowing what to do. An arrow fired off and launched the side of the stranger's cloth to a wall.

"**GREYWHACK! YOU ARE HERE BY UNDER ARREST BY ORDER OF THE GLORRIORS!**"

Five thuds were presented causing the figure to look away from its restraint. Five strong looking shadowy figures had "Greywhack" clearly outnumbered. He reached into the utility belt and withdrew a red runestone with a yellow star in the center. Greywhack threw the runestone in front of the group, causing and explosion. The smoke cleared. All that remained was a broken arrow.

A whistle broke the second of silence. A previously outnumbered Greywhack now had an army of his own. All of them had a diamond shard for their heads, but each took on a ghost-like body made of the elements; Water, Fire, Earth, Air, Light, Dark and Plasma. Each of them held a ball of their element in hand, ready to launch them at the rebels.

A/N:

Teller16-djb: That seemed short to me, but that character intro was awesome, right?!

Brenda: Sure Pipsqueak. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Teller16-djb: Since the Glorriors are just joining us, it kinda brings a few questions doesn't it.

Brenda: More advertising? You have no shame.

Teller16-djb: Nope. Wow, 15 chapters already. And we still have _way_ more to show you folks. Parts of it are still surprising even to me. And I've heard this story at least eight different times already. Hey! One more chapter until the special!

Brenda: Fan-boy.

Teller16-djb: Ditto.

Brenda: I'm not a boy!

Teller16-djb: We can't be too sure of that.

Brenda: Why you little-

Teller16-djb: This chapter is named after a song.

Brenda: You really think I'd forget it that quick?

Teller16-djb: You don't have to play the song. But if it helps you get in the mood, who am I to stop you?

Brenda: Start the chapter before I-

Teller16-djb: Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!


	17. Chapter 16: Just People Walking

Chapter 16: Just People Walking

Natasha's POV

The journey to New York had been by flight. It was the fastest way we could think of. Although I didn't like thought of two giant bats flying into the city, even Cyrus and Sophia had trouble adjusting to the knowledge of the Vampires, it was the only way to save time. But for extra measure I made them fly close to the forest and any buildings that could hide them.

At about noon, we made it. Or at least, we would've, if the Vampires hadn't ditched us for a snack. Stupid Vampires. That left the rest of us to take a five mile walk into the city. I was looking forward to going straight to the hotel, relaxing and getting a last minute study in, but once again my plans for normalcy were ruined by Ooaa.

We walked into town and were greeted with the business of the City That Never Sleeps. We joined in the crowd and walked as casually as we could. Then some idiot in a white van drove on the sidewalk causing us to jump in the street for safety. How ironic, the street kept us safe from being hit by a van.

"**WHAT WAS THAT**," Molly asked from Flambo's head.

"I don't know," Shawn told her. "But we're gonna find out. Sophie, Cyrus-"

"Cy," he corrected.

"-Cy, stay here with Fionna, Cake, Flambo, the Candy Corn and Ice Kids and wait for the Vampires. Natasha, Nova, Finn, Jake, Star and I will handle this."

We followed behind him as he ran after the van.

"Meet us at 34th Street," Shawn called back to them.

The van sped up. My first thought was that it was because we were chasing it. Then I saw something rush past us. Seven weird things and a walking rock rushed past us to get to the van. Just by getting close to the rock-thing, my mind was a bit dazed. The rock creature threw a red stone at the van which made an explosion when it collided with the van's rear bumper.

The explosion was enough to push us back, the rock and the other beings kept on it's tracks. I saw Shawn, Star and Nova put on their animal hats, so I followed suit. Jake and Nova stretched to look like a pair of horses. Finn and Shawn rode on Jake's back while Star and I rode on Nova's. Both he and Star voiced how awkward it was, but there was rarely a better option.

"**Relinquish the women and her child**," the rock shouted in a manly voice.

"**No sir**," a little girl yelled back at him.

"**Our necklaces belong to us**," her mother, I guessed, joined the girl.

A weird thing to yell…oh well. He was still chasing them with explosives and an army. _That_ hardly seemed fair. Lucky for the mother and daughter, we were on their side. I drew my sword and swung at one of the beings that looked like it was made out of fire. The diamond head of the creature shattered and the fire retreated into one that looked like earth.

"Okay," I retracted the sword, "that's not going to work."

"**Hey Poop Prism**," I saw Finn call out to the rock guy. "**Leave them alone!**"

"**I'll skin them alive right after I kill you**," the rock man swung at him.

"**Not gonna happen granite brain**," Shawn used his sword to block.

The rock thing swung at them again. Jake ducked his head, Finn back flipped and Shawn laid down as the sword passed. We had to find another way into the battle. The diamond-element-creatures would just get stronger the more you took them down. Shawn, Finn and Jake were handling the moving rock. So that just left the van.

"Nova," I said. "We have to get on that van."

"I'll try," he told me.

Nova put up a remarkable effort. He sped up to the side of the van, well out of the rock man's sight. Star jumped on, then I, and Nova stretched out a hand and grabbed on. He shrunk back to a cat, making it easier for Star and I to pull him on. I knocked on the window and saw shadows staring back. Nova for some reason nodded at the shadows.

"**Can this thing go any faster**," I called.

"**We could go faster if you helped us out**," a male voice called from inside.

"**Shawn**," I called in between the rock guy's strikes. "**Protection!**"

He jumped up and threw the Amber of Protection to me. I caught it and the Power Stone reacted as I hoped. The van was covered by a semicircle, leaving little space near the ground so the van could still drive. That one helpful thing also caused a problem; the diamond-element-creatures were able to slide under the small space. They climbed up the van leaving us to fight them.

Star acted as a distraction while I kept them away from any opening. Nova grew a pair of pots for hands and trapped them inside. He let go after a minute, which for some reason made me feel a slight burn in my hands. The multiple diamond-element-monsters retreated back to the rock man. The amber shut down seeing as the threats were centered on Finn, Jake and Shawn. The van started to skid to a stop, making us jump off as it flipped over into a tree. The people in the van got out, and their appearance shocked me.

There was a rhinoceros and bull with Roman-like armor pads wielding a sword that had a mace at the tip of the blade and an anvil under the sword's hold. The next was a green snake with a white hood, a brown belt, wielding a dagger forked-sword. Another was a Cyclops in a Robin Hood outfit, wielding a bow with arrows. A smaller one with mouths all over its body joined them. The mother and daughter coming out behind them.

They rushed past us and jumped into the fight. To my amazement, they managed to keep the diamond-element-creatures under control. The rhinoceros was the one who really made their group run. The bull threw the rock guy away as easily as an ordinary rock. The group tried to get away but I followed them. I had to know who they were.

It seemed Finn and I, for once, shared the same idea of discovering their identities. Marshall Lee and Marceline joined us, probably to avoid facing Shawn after ditching us. We chased them to an abandoned warehouse and entered. We walked to the edge of a balcony, and saw a whole army of shadows. A shuffle on the balcony and Marshal pulled out…a gun?

"Where did you get _that_," I asked.

"Shawn's dad's dresser," he told me. "Don't tell Shawn."

The rhinoceros came out of his hiding place with an even bigger gun. Finn, Marceline and I put out hand up slowly while Marshal looked at the gun paler than he usually was.

"Pop the clip…" the rhinoceros told him.

"Aww, no fair," Marshall let the clip fall.

"…and the one in the chamber."

"Street wise," he smirked, taking out the bullet.

"Wait a second. You're those heroes from the news. Hey guys! They're the legends!"

The group of what seemed like monsters walked up the steps to see us. They took off their outfits and revealed actual _people_ inside. The bull kid had a muscular build like the rhinoceros kid; they seemed to be twins with brown hair. The only difference was their eye color; the rhinoceros' was blue while the bull's was green.

The snake kid had black hair, brown eyes and a more noodle-like body. The Cyclops was a girl with brunette-blonde hair tied in a ponytail. Each one of them wore the same clothes as their animals. The weird one with the many mouths was actually a German Shepard. _They_ marveled at _us_ when it should've been the other way around.

"Who are you guys and gal," Finn asked the obvious question.

"We're you're biggest fans," the girl told him. "I'm Odiole."

"My name's Paciol," the snake kid introduced. "Odiole's older brother."

"That's Mouthicore," the bull kid presented. "They call me Terror-Bull. And my brother with the big gun over here is Barometus. He's…not much for greetings."

"Sorry about this," Barometus put the gun away. "We're at terror-alert red since Greywhack came to town."

"Greywhack," I asked.

"He's the one with a rock head. We've seen all the reports about you four and your other friends for months now. Then _he_ came here a week ago. Greywhack and his Gemstone Warriors have been tearing up the whole city. So, _we_ stepped in to stop him until you guys arrived. We're the Glorriors, masters of exotic fighting styles. The rhino-"

"The bull," Terror-Bull called.

"The Snake," Paciol sounded.

"The Cyclops," Odiole added.

"-and our mascot and faithful companion, the Mouthicore."

Puffball jumped out of my pocket, and I had no idea he was in there. He sniffed at the Mouthicore costume and turned into his final Chimera stage.

"That is so cool," Paciol said. "Cute one minute, deadly the next. Very sneaky."

"We were only in this until you came and took care of the problem," Barometus told us honestly. "But now this is too much fun to stop. We were wondering if you would like to team up!"

Marceline and Marshall grabbed the backs of Finn's and my shirt.

"Excuse us for a moment," Marceline called until we were alone. "I get a bad feeling about these guys."

"Nah Marce," Finn waved it off. "These guys are cool."

"I know I'm into glory, but even _I_ think this is a really bad idea," Marshall said. "Marcie and I gotta get outta here."

"You two do whatever you think's best," Marceline said before they flew out of the warehouse.

"So," Barometus asked. "Do you wanna be a Glorrior?"

We turned to him and thought for a second. These were unknown kids, in a place we're not that familiar with, wanting us to help them. We had no idea if that Greywhack guy was even evil, although attacking a mother _and_ her daughter wasn't helping his case. Normally, I wouldn't be so easy to fall into temptation, but the thought of finding out from them how to beat the Gemstone Warriors when I couldn't was an offer I couldn't refuse.

"I'm in," Finn and I were again on the same page.

A/N:

Teller16-djb: And now a link is formed in two chains.

Brenda: What?

Teller16-djb: Sorry. Just picking up the slack for Clockwork.

Brenda: Now Natasha still has her competition, and Team Ooaa still has to go to Comic Con.

Teller16-djb: Oh how fun things will get.

Brenda: Evil one.

Teller16-djb & Brenda: See ya around!


	18. Chapter 17: The Specials of Pen & Teller

A/N:

Brenda: The first hint on chapter 3 says this chapter takes place in New York. Check. The next hint from chapter 7 told you costumes are expectable here. Double check. And the last hint state in chapter 14, which was the most obvious, New York Comic Con.

Teller16-djb: **YES! IT'S FINALLY HERE! THE SPECIAL CHAPTER, WITH THE SPECIAL GUEST, ON THIS SPECIAL DAY! LIFE! IS! SPECIAL!**

Brenda: Will you shut up. You're giving me a headache.

Teller16-djb: **NEVER! THIS IS A SPECIALLY SPECIAL SPECIAL THAT SHOULD BE TREATED SPECIAL! THE CHAPTER TITLE IS SPECAL! THE CHARACTERS ARE SPECIAL! DARE I SAY, THE LICH AND GREYWHACK ARE SPECIAL! WE ARE **_**ALL**_** SPECIAL! EVERYONE, BRENDA, READERS, JOIN ME IN THE SPECIALNESS OF THIS SPECIAL!**

Brenda: If it'll shut you up, fine.

Teller16-djb & Brenda: **SILVER TONGUE…ACTIVATE!**

Chapter 17: The Specials of Pen and Teller

Star's POV

It seems like in New York we can't keep everyone together. We lost all traces of Finn and Natasha, even little Puffball went missing. The Vampires came back and Shawn chewed them out for ditching us. But when he tried asking where Natasha, Finn and Puffball were, they stayed silent due to being yelled at.

It's one thing to go missing for a few hours. They were gone for a few days. It was Thursday, we left on Saturday. Nobody but the Vampires had seen them since, and they weren't budging without an apology Shawn wasn't gonna give. Comic Con was starting in a few minutes when they _finally_ shown up.

"Where were you two," Shawn yelled at them; he and Fionna looking equally upset with them.

"We were…finding Greywhack," Finn answered stepping back.

"The rock," Fionna questioned them. "You left for nearly a week looking for a bad guy?!"

"Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing anyway," Natasha asked.

From the side, we watched the four of them go back and forth with the other in a pair. When one side made an argument, the other would state their side of how bad it was. It was confusing to watch from Nova and my point of view. They would always argue with each other, but it would be more on friendly terms and a lot less hostile.

Marshall and Marceline looked oddly amused by them however.

"What's so funny," I asked them.

"Don't you see it," Marshall asked.

"See what," Nova wondered.

"Oh, come on. Them! Watch."

Marshall turned in the opposite direction as the argument, for whatever reason.

"Look at their faces right now," he told us.

"Why," I questioned.

"Trust me. I'm a pro at this."

I rolled my eyes but looked anyway.

"Okay," he almost laughed. "Right now their faces are getting redder. Am I right?"

I looked closer and indeed the red-sucking Vampire was correct.

"Don't you always know when red is around," I shook my head.

"And now they're waving their arms around," he crossed his arms.

Again, he was right.

"S-so what," I was slightly worried.

"And now they're facing the opposite direction of each other with their arms cross and a look on their faces that someone might confuse for them eating something sour."

He was right, three for three. They had _never_ been _that_ mad at each other before. It was…sad. I reached into my link with Shawn and didn't like what I felt. There was anger, treachery, and at the very pit of it all, hurt. He was hurting really bad, and so was I. I didn't know what brought that on, and it seemed Nova could sense it too.

"W-what's wrong with them," he asked in panic. "Can we help?"

"They're fine," Marceline waved the thought like a fly. "They're just jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?"

She pointed at the four of them, neither moved an inch. They each looked so unhappy. Not mad, just, sadly thoughtful.

'_Time to piece it together_,' I thought. '_Shawn is feeling slightly angry, a little betrayed…and _greatly_ hurt. He was getting angrier with Finn and Natasha the more they talked. Then they all stopped talking. Shawn looks broken. Why would going after a bad guy make him this upset?_'

"Oh for the love of Gob," Marceline face-palmed. "What do you think their issue with each other is?"

"Finn and Natasha left us for five days to go hunt a villain."

"That's not the _entire_ issue here, but you're halfway to the problem. Try looking at it from Shawn's view, Warden."

'_Okay. Finn and Natasha left us to go hunt a villain…Finn and Natasha left us…Natasha left us…Natasha left…with Finn…_'

Click.

"Oh," I said. "They…he…Oh Shawn."

'That_ explains _everything_. This is not good.' _

The Warden part of me was on full panic. They were mad at each other which meant they would be hesitant to work together. And if they couldn't work together, the Lich and that Greywhack guy could start working together. And if the Lich and Greywhack started working together, they could find the Fluorite and Emerald faster. And if they found the Fluorite and Emerald faster, they could come after us. And if they came after us in this state, they could take the other Power Stones. And if they took the other Power Stones, they could have the Tourmaline of Ultimate Power. And if they had the Tourmaline of Ultimate Power, they _everyone_ would suffer for it. My **Vöròurs** side screamed all the horrible possibilities a mile a minute.

But I didn't listen to that part.

Shawn was my brother and he was sad. If Shawn was sad, then he would act depressed. If he acted depressed, he might start giving up. And if Shawn gave up, then he wouldn't be _Shawn_. Those aren't _nearly_ as many reasons that compared to the panic. But it was worse than any of those reasons for me. I may have been sent to Shawn to keep the world safe, but I thought..._I knew_…there was more I was born for. And Shawn being sad was a sight I couldn't bare to see.

I was going to walk up to him, smile, let him pet me; anything that could show him that I was still on his side. The back doors of the Comic Con building opened before I had the chance.

"Hey," Cy whispered. "We made it. Come on before the guards get here."

The Vampires went in, followed by the Ice and Candy Corn Kids with Flambo. I looked to Cake, Jake and Nova with a worried glance. I looked to Shawn and back at them. We nodded a silent agreement to stay close to them. They would need their surrogate more then ever.

Entering the building would have been easy if not for a guard that stopped us last minute. He was your average bouncer, black attire from shoe to glass, muscularly built and angry. And here he was against us. Forget Nova, Cake, Jake and I, he had four jealously-raged teenagers to deal with.

"No pets allowed," he stopped us.

"[Hey! We're not pets!]"

"They're our family," Fionna told him with an irritated glare.

"Those are just their costumes," Natasha sighed in frustration.

"Costumes," the bouncer examined Jake. "They look pretty real to me."

"If he was real, could I do this," Finn knocked Jake on the head while looking at Shawn.

"Or this," Shawn kicked him in the no-go-zone while looking at Finn.

"If I was real, that would be _incredibly painful_," Jake gritted his teeth into a fake smile.

"Now watch this," Shawn took out his sword while Finn pulled out the Helmet of Thorogon from his pack.

"That's enough boys," I pushed Shawn back. "We're gonna miss the conference if you keep goofing around."

The bouncer seemed to be convinced because he let us all threw. Jake stretched his hands to slap Finn and Shawn upside the head while we were out of everyone's sights. Shawn and Finn glared at each other, Fionna and Natasha glared at each other, and only two of them really knew why they were upset.

[What do we do,] I asked so they couldn't understand.

[Something soon I hope,] Nova joined me. [I've never seen her so mad before.]

[I don't think she of Finn really knows why though,] Cake added to the conversation. [They could cool down soon.]

[I hope so,] Jake grumbled. [I can't have them jack up my bread and butter like that.]

[Well what do we do,] Nova wondered.

[We can't let them stay mad forever,] Cake sighed. [Poor things.]

[We have to get them to be alright again,] I thought aloud. [Maybe we should tell them slowly how they're feeling. That _might_ help; even a bit?]

[Whatever makes them stop Jake-punchies, I'm in,] Jake agreed.

We got good seats for the conference. We had everyone together for the first time since we've been here but it wasn't on the best of terms. They were still mad so I figured this wasn't going to be another tiny battle. This one could take a while. The questions flooded in but only one registered to us before our question.

"How do you feel about those heroes from the news using you're characters as an identity," someone in a bulky suit asked.

"The occurrences have been a little weird," Jeremy Shada replied.

"He sounds familiar," Finn thought in a whisper.

"He's your voice actor ya dingbat," Shawn shook his head.

"It's been almost like having sort of a reenactment of the episodes _while_ they air," Pendleton Ward slightly laughed.

"That's him," Shawn exclaimed quietly. "He's the creator."

"We assure you we have _nothing_ to do with that."

"Don't count your chickens on that one sir," Natasha raised her hand.

"You in the back."

"**Say the Lich somehow made it to Earth and was trying to destroy it along with Ooo and Aaa! How would he do it and how would someone go about stopping him?!**"

Unbelievably, Natasha was even more upset since they all _laughed_ at her question. These were a large percent of adults dressed up in costumes that a kid might wear, laughing like babies at a teenager who had a question for an adult about stopping an old guy. No ages were excluded in the making of _that_ sentence.

"We would…like to take a break…to look into…that question," Pendleton said in between laughs.

That was _not_ the answer Natasha was hoping for. While the audience started to wander. She stood up and walked towards the exit. Nova, Shawn and I followed her to the parking lot.

"Where are you going," Shawn asked her.

"I'm going to my debate, _where I belong_," she yelled back. "This is an Ooaa problem. I didn't come to New York to handle Ooaa problems. I came to win a debate for my school. And I _am_ going to _win_."

She stormed out before any of us could try to reason with her. Nova stayed with us too, knowing she needed time to cool down. And we had an Ooaa problem to solve to top it off. We went back inside to the others.

"Where's my sister," Sophie questioned.

"She had an _Earth_ problem to deal with," Shawn spat the word "Earth" like a swear. "And we have to solve this now or never."

His mind was set; no going back. Cy and Sophie went after their sister, Nova following like we'd agreed on. Shawn saw Pendleton alone and took the opportunity to corner him. I opened the door to a large supply closet. Shawn dragged Pendleton in with us following. The Ice Kids, Candy Corn Kids and Flambo guarded the door while Finn, Jake, Fionna, Cake, Shawn and I went to speak with the creator. I felt a familiar bad feeling but ignored it thinking it was my **Vöròurs** side again.

"Sorry about that Mr. Ward," Shawn started. "We _really_ need that answer."

"Look kids," Pendleton raised his fists and backed up to the wall, "I don't want any trouble."

"Neither do we. We came here for your help. They're _real_."

"Who's real?"

"Adventure Time's real man! These are they. They are them. Finn, Jake, Fionna, Cake, meet the creator of Adventure Time, Pendleton Ward."

Pendleton walked up to Finn and Jake and nearly fainted.

"Bu…H-How?"

"We don't know sir," I answered, shifting into Luna. "One minute my brother and I were at home, then the Ice King pulled us in to Ooaa, and the Lich came out, and we stopped him, and the Ice Kids raised him again, and now he's here looking for the Power Stones!"

Pendleton obviously had questions by his confused and slightly worried expression, so he raised his hand to ask.

"Who are the Ice Kids?"

"They're the Ice King's siblings," Shawn answered. "They lived away for a while. Why don't you know? Didn't you create them?"

"No. The Ice King yes. Aaa, which she named _Ooh_, was created by Natasha Allegri. But I never created Ice Kids."

"Then who…next you'll be telling me you didn't create the Candy Corn Kids!"

"Huh?"

"Holly, Molly and Jolly?! Oh forget it."

"Al…right. Now what's Ooaa?"

"Ooo and Aaa merged man," Jake stretched to his level. "For a creator you sure don't know much about us."

"Y-You can…st-stre…"

"Sir," I stopped him. "As much as we'd like to tell you everything, we have a Lich and Greywhack problem."

"Greywhack is _here_?! A-And what about the Glorriors?"

"Them too," Finn confirmed. "Those guys are crazy cool."

"We know," Shawn glared at him, Fionna included. "You never stop telling us how _awesome_ they are."

Once again, another argument between close friends started. Pendleton looked to me for an answer.

"What's with them," he wondered.

"It's been like this all morning," I told him. "Jealousy sure can ruin a friendship. But we need to know, how could the Lich destroy Earth and Ooaa?"

"Hmm. If I were the Lich and wanted to destroy all my enemies…I guess I would start by trying to turn them to my side."

"The more allies, the more powerful you are against your enemies."

"Looks like Finn and your…brother...might be on his hit list for that. Can he change like you can?"

"No. And I don't see him or Finn turning against us. Is there another way he might try?"

"If I couldn't gather more recruits…I think I might gather my enemies up in the same place."

"Same place? Why?"

"If I could get them together, I could destroy all threats at once. No threat, no problems."

"But the Lich couldn't possibly get us all together. A lot of them are from…Ooaa."

"What's wrong?"

"Between you and me sir, Aaa isn't exactly…stable…at the moment."

"Then he'd probably wait until the next Fionna and Cake episode. Then he could merge all the worlds together and get rid of you and your friends at once."

"Not if I have anything to say about it. How can we stop him?"

"That might be a problem. The Lich is unstoppable. He's supposed to be a baby right now?"

"But now he's worse than ever. This isn't looking good on our side."

"It could be impossible to stop him."

"_Nothing_ is impossible. We just…need more ti-"

There was that feeling again. It _definitely_ wasn't my **Vöròurs** side. I looked all around the room and felt that bad feeling deep down, slowly getting closer. The guarding group barged in and barricaded the door.

"What's happening," Pendleton asked.

"They're coming," Ice Princess huffed. "Greywhack and the Lich are on their way here!"

The bad feeling grew and I started to panic. It was like a darker version of my link with Shawn, who was still arguing with Fionna against Finn. I had enough of it! I whistled causing them to finally stop and address someone other than each other.

"We got trouble heroes," I growled.

[Two against twelve,] Flambo smirked. [Hardly seems fair.]

[For them or us,] Cake asked him.

I reverted back and was ready for anything. Well…_almost_ anything. We all, except for Pendleton, backed up to prepare for our next fight. But when the doors busted open, I was in a trance immediately.

"Hello," the cutest baby I'd ever seen smiled.

"Awwwww," I faintly heard others coo at the small child with me.

"Can I habe the Ambew of Pwotekson and the Topas of Tine," he even cutely messed up the words.

"We don't have it," Marshall told him.

"You don't," he made his eyes bigger than I thought he could. "Ten whewe iz it?"

"Stop them," Shawn ordered.

My mouth was covered and I was pushed against Flambo, Jake and Cake. Not that I really noticed. My focus was mainly on the baby. I heard and could vaguely see what happening around me, but my world seemed to revolve around the baby.

"**THEY'RE WITH NATASHA AT HER DEBATE COMPETITION**," the Candy Corn Kids revealed.

"Finn," Shawn snarled at the hero. "What part of _'STOP THEM'_ did you not get?"

"Tank you," Lich's adult voice came back.

My hypnosis was cancelled when the Lich reverted back into an adult. A satisfied, evil grin slid on to his face. I growled as loud as ever had before. The Lich had duped us! And he was on his way to get just what he wanted!

Greywhack took his place in front of him, allowing the Lich enough time to escape. I charged at the villain but was thrown out of the room. People started crowding us which made me nervous of casualties.

"Get back," I commanded. "Everyone, _stay_ back!"

The door burst open as my friends landed in front of me. Greywhack stepped out slowly, not even wielding his sword. He grabbed every one of us he walked by and threw us farther and farther from the door the Lich ran through. I looked to Shawn and Finn who were once again arguing with each other.

'_That's it_,' I thought angrily. '_This has gone on long enough!_'

"Quit fighting and make up," I told them sternly.

"But," they tried to object.

"**NOW!**"

"Okay! I'm sorry Finn, alright?"

Greywhack grabbed Finn by his shirt, but _Finn_ stopped him from being thrown across the room like the others. That was progress.

"I forgive you. I guess I'm kinda sorry too," Finn pulled him back.

"It's okay. Finn buddy, get a grip."

Finn grabbed Shawn's hand and Shawn flung Finn around to kick Greywhack in the face. Finn and Shawn tumbled back but didn't fall. Greywhack was down and they took the opportunity to keep him in place.

"Now let's see who this wad really is," Finn pulled at the head.

Greywhack's jack-o-lantern rock of a head came off to reveal…_a Gemstone Warrior?!_

"**WHAT THE WHAT**," Shawn and Finn shouted.

The boys had the cloak of the shadow Gemstone Warrior pulled right from under them. The Gemstone Warrior started to grow. There was no way to stop it from what I remembered. An anvil dropped in and smashed the ground in front of Finn and Shawn. Shawn was confused but Finn was relieved. The fighters we met from our first day in New York stood in front of us so I was just as confused as Shawn.

"Glorriors," Finn helped Shawn up. "Glad I asked them to come?"

"Finn," Shawn glared at him.

'_Back to square one_,' I sighed.

The rhino guy roared at the Gemstone Warrior, making it dart away in fear. The crowd cheered like it was some sort of show, boosting the Glorriors' ego up a few notches.

"Greywhack was a Gemstone Warrior," Finn asked through the noise.

"No you digis," Shawn shouted. "We've been set up! All he wanted was…the stone. Natasha!"

Shawn ran out the same way the Lich left. I couldn't just stand there and observe like my uncle's bosses, I had to go after him.

"Thank you Mr. Ward," I called back. "We'll do what we can! And thanks for making the show!"

We managed to catch up to the Gemstone Warrior that led us to Natasha's debate competition. Only, there was a slight problem when we got there. The building was completely destroyed. Flames covered every part that stood, which wasn't much. Bricks however were numerous. They were splayed all around the remains of the structure.

Thankfully, three humans sat on the steps perfectly safe. Odds were they were our humans. Shawn and I rushed to the steps to see Natasha, Cy and Sophie sitting, but there was an obvious lack of joy and a member I took notice to immediately with the highest worry.

"Did he get the stone," Shawn asked feeling tired.

"No," Natasha said in a monotone, increasing my fret.

"Where's Nova," I asked at last.

"He ran off. I told him I just wanted normal, even a normal him. He's probably with the Lich and Greywhack right now."

"Nova? No. H-he wouldn't. Not him."

"And it's all your fault Parker," Natasha stood in front of Shawn.

I was less confused this time around. It seemed she'd been preparing this talk for some time. Sophie and Cy looked like they saw it coming too. That didn't make the situation any better though.

"You just had to find me didn't you?! That one day ruined everything! If you and your friend and cousin hadn't have shown up, I wouldn't have to worry about this! I froze up on the stage! And I never freeze up! Then you and you're stupid Ooaa had to barge in and destroy everything normal! And you're the _worst_ because you care more about saving some imaginary cartoon land more than you care about saving your own planet! And the problem never would've started in the first place if it wasn't for you!"

_That_ was Shawn's breaking point.

"My fault?! _My fault?!_ Do you honestly believe that I planned for any of this to happen?! I was dragged into all of it just like you! KND was my fault, granted, but Ooaa and this wasn't! And since you've been involved, we've had more problems than when just Star and I were forced into it! But you're so thick headedly ignorant you don't even realize you're mistakes if you're not using it as some paranoid vendetta against someone! And the only reason I've put up with it for all these years is…"

Shawn just stopped. It wasn't a pause, he just ran out of things to say. He was confused; his anger hid that emotion well. He, Finn, Fionna, Natasha even, never had to deal with _actual_ grown up emotions before, and it showed in how they were all acting like kids. Fighting, tantrums, defiance; that kept them from the most important thing that would help them:

_Listening_.

"Well," Natasha stood her ground.

"Nothing," Shawn closed his eyes and put his head down. "Just…forget it."

"Fine. Kids Next Door, Ooaa, I'll forget it all. **I WISH I NEVER MET YOU SHAWN PARKER!**"

Natasha stormed off in the direction of Central Park. She was going who knows where, Cy and Sophie torn with what they should do but followed their sister. In that area, they were unlike and yet the same as me. I _knew_ what I had to do; make sure that my brother was okay.

"So why," I asked as if I didn't already know the answer.

"Why what," Shawn still didn't move.

"Why did you put up with her for all these years?"

"I guess it's because I've known her since we were kids. She was the first person who was ever a friend to me."

"La negación es el camino de los ignorantes, el corazón es el camino del miedo. Siga su corazón y le fijarán libre."

"Star, English. Please."

"Denial is the road of the ignorant, heart is the road of the fearless. Follow your heart and you'll be set free. Follow you're heart Shawn."

"How can I do that when I don't even know what its saying?"

"You have to listen to understand."

Shawn would've had more time to think it over if Ice Princess, Jake and the bull Glorrior hadn't ran up to us. I would've told them to leave him, but their faces showed worry.

"Shawn," Jake huffed. "You have…to come…with us."

"Why," Shawn wondered.

"Finn's going nuts right now," the bull answered. "He's…what did you guys call it?"

"Having an episode."

"Right. That's it."

Shawn looked back to the park then at his friends. He would have to choose, Natasha or Finn. That was a difficult choice but we've made harder ones. I _knew_ Shawn wouldn't let me down, whichever one he chose. It would've been following some part of his heart either way.

"Show me the way," his mind was set on his friend's wellbeing.

A/N:

Teller16-djb & Brenda: **WE BROKE 100 PAGES!**

Teller16-djb: That chapter was a little more emotional than I would've liked, but it was still amazing.

Brenda: The emotional stuff is progression, which is majorly important for what's coming up.

Teller16-djb: Fine. Still, more complications are coming just because of this chapter. Oh the chaos.

Brenda: Well what kind of complications did you want to have?

Teller16-djb: Pain that leads to the ultimate triumph in the end. That seems to be what road this is going down now. The question is will they be able to stop the Lich when he keeps growing allies and gaining more power?

Brenda: No. Living with Esoterics had taught me that the only question is what next?

Teller16-djb: I guess Clockwork would say something like, "Only time will tell". Or something.

Teller16-djb & Brenda: See ya around!


	19. Chapter 18: Not So Easy Breezy

A/N:

Teller16-djb: This story _still_ isn't done?! Come on!

Brenda: Why are you mad about that?

Teller16-djb: Because Clockwork's already sent me on 136 missions in the same time it took to get _this_ far. If I had a say, this story would be finished this chapter.

Brenda: Why this chapter?

Teller16-djb: I wanted to show the readers a preview of the Return to Ooaa trilogy.

Brenda: I thought it was called Party Time.

Teller16-djb: It was. But then I changed it since it had very little to do with the story. Anyway, let's get ready to **FUMBLE!**

Brenda: It's "rumble" Pipsqueak.

Teller16-djb: Not the way they do it. Silver tongue…**ACTIVATE**!

Chapter 18: Not So Easy Breezy

Shawn's POV

I really wanted to go after Natasha, but something told me that going after Finn was a good call. Maybe I shouldn't have listened to it, but I really had no way of going back after I stepped in the warehouse. As they said, Finn was having an episode. I saw the Glorriors doing their best to avoid Finn while my friends were trying to figure out what he was doing.

Finn flopped around, talked and looked altogether miserable. Whatever was going on back in Ooo, it mustn't have been good. And we had to see it to help somehow.

"Do you guys have a TV around this dump," I asked the Glorriors.

"It's not a dump," the bull costume kid defended.

"Don't care. Do you have a TV or not."

"In the back."

I walked behind him to a storage closet and pulled out a box TV. I plugged it into an outlet, soon realizing it wouldn't work without cable.

"So now how are we gonna tell what's going on," Ice Prince questioned.

"We could just find the Fluorite of Memory Erasing," Star told us.

For that, we looked at Star weirdly. The Glorriors looked scared that she was in her dog form while talking and the rest of us were just wondering how that particular Power Stone would help.

"How is something that erases minds gonna help," Marceline asked.

"Some things are more than they appear," she smirked. "The fluorite is like a book of memories. It takes them away of course, but it can show other people all the memories it has through a projection."

"When would that ever help us," I wondered.

"You'd be surprised. One day it might get us out of trouble."

"What are the chances of that happening?"

"I'm lost in the darkness, what will this bring," Finn sang walking past us. "Autumn descends on me, Autumn."

"This kid really knows how to bring down a mood," the snake kid said.

"Hey lay off him," I replied. "He's going through some bad biz right now."

"I'm lost in the darkness, what will this bring," Finn kept going.

"Oh we know," the cyclopse girl leaned against the snake. "He wouldn't shut up with his sob story all week. It really gets annoying after the fifteenth time."

"You'd think they'd be a little nicer the way Finn talks about 'em," I whispered to Fionna.

"I think our guest needs to get some edicate," the rhino guy announced. "Odiole, repremand him."

The cyclope girl kicked me in the stomache and launched me across the room. She stepped on my chest with her bow drawn.

"Odiole right," I guessed.

"Show us a little respect will ya," she told me. "Or else we'll have a problem."

"I won't fight a girl."

Fionna caught on and flipped Odiole off of me. Fionna helped me up and I pushed her in front of me while I hid behind her.

"Fionna on the other hand would gladly show you what for," I laughed.

"You wouldn't attack," Odiole smirked back. "You're outnumbered."

"Really? Forget Finn and Jake and we still have Fionna and I, Star, Ice Prince and Princess, the Candy Corn Kids, the Vampires, Flambo and Puffball. So that's twelve to five right there."

"I'm not that good with math," Fionna thought it over, "and even I think we have more people than you."

"Is that so," Odiole flipped a switch.

Below the balcony stood a whole army of soldiers. _Hundreds_ of soldiers. All of them stood in line without moving a mustle. The soldiers looked ready to move at a moment's notice. They were the _defintion_ of the words, "the perfect army". If the Lich got his grubby mits on this eleet force…

'_Maybe duking it out with these guys isn't such a good plan afterall_,' I thought it over.

"You Glorriors make my brain hurt," Fionna grabbed her head.

"Still think we're outnumbered by you," Odiole spoke proud.

"Now I think you guys are a bunch of butts."

"Likewise bunny-girl."

"Same to you one-eye."

I just ignored there argument and looked over the edge to get a better look at the soldiers. Ice Prince joined me laughing to himself.

"What's so funny," I whispered to him.

"Something seems a little off about the soldiers" he hushed. "Look at the way none of them are moving. Humans _always_ move."

When the rhino walked over, Ice Prince faked intrest.

"Not bad," the Ice Royal told him. "This would've been just enough to stop the Lich. How long did it take to gather up all the fakes?"

"These "fakes" are the best New York has to offer," the rhino said. "Each one, coming from the police force is full equiped to take out any and _all_ enemies."

"Nice cover story," I crossed my arms. "Natasha help you with that one?"

"She had nothing to do with it."

"Okay dude," Ice Prince shrugged. "Hey Shawn, you like tests don't you?"

"No," I answered.

"How about testing you're allies?"

"Still no."

"Shawn, just through the stupid sword already."

"Oh. **BOOMERANG BLADE!**"

I took out my sword, bent the blade and threw it at one of the soldiers in the first row. Ice Prince was right, they were off. The soldiers fell backward and came down like flat dominos. Ice Prince had a smug look on his face, which he earned the right to have since he was right, while the rhino guy looked extremely mad at us.

"Ooaa one, Earth zip," I high fived Ice Prince.

"Never meet your heroes," the rhino crossed his arms.

"Can't say I agree. I met these guys, they're awesome. I met their creator, he's beyond awesome. You Glorriors aren't even on our level of awesome."

"Mouthicore! Sick him!"

"Puff-"

"No no," I stopped Ice Princess. "I got this."

Mouthicore ran at me full speed, while I just stood still waiting for him to get close enough. When he was about a foot away, I took that as the right moment.

"**HEILEN**," I screamed.

Mouthicore came to a sliding halt at my feet. That little trick was taught to me by a movie and Star for the German words. The others looked shocked and amazed so I decided a few more tricks wouldn't hurt.

"Sitzen," I ordered, the German Sheppard obeyed. "Sich hinlegen. Sich umdrehen. Bleiben. Guter junge."

"Y-you…tamed the Mouthicore," Paciol's eyes boggled.

"He a _German Sheppard_. Speak his language and he'll do what you say."

"Shawn," Star nudged me. "We have a problem."

"Other than Finn kissing the air," Ice Prince asked, causing us to look over.

Finn did a quick kiss to the air but we were wondering who, or what since this is Ooaa, was on the other side…

"Okay. Good night, Crab Princess."

…until he openly told us. Fionna was beyond fury with that comment. Then she had a thoughtful look. And then an evil one. I didn't like the transitions but we had bigger issues appearently.

"So does our problem get me out of here as fast as possible," I asked Star.

"That women and her daughter just ran by with Greywhack following them," she answered.

"I'm outta here. Someone's gotta save them."

I ran out the door but poked my head through the door to say one last thing.

"And stay away from Finn, Fionna," I called.

So more chasing down the streets. That's the simplest way to put it. Star, the Ice Royals and Flambo followed me. I really am lucky to have friends like them. I'll tell you who was unlucky, the mother who was running from Greywhack. Malaya's mother, who told us her name was Lacey, was standing in an alley without Malaya.

"Why do they always come from the alley," Ice Princess asked. "Never from behind an alley or in an open space."

"Dark places make more hiding spots," I told her. "Lacey, what happened to Malaya and Greywhack?"

"No need to look," Greywhack forced us into the alley. "We're right here."

Lacey started growing in size. She became greener by the second. It didn't make sense how she could turn into a She-Hulk. No one in our world has powers, but…I looked to her neck and saw a golden-link chain with a green gem that was glowing.

'_The Emerald of Super Ability_,' I thought amazed.

"Let go of my daughter," Lacey yelled.

"I am really liking our odds right now," I whispered to my friends.

"Give me the Power Stone," Greywhack ordered.

"Power Stone," Lacey questioned.

"The gem around you're neck," Star told her. "It gave you these powers. Don't give it to him! It's a trap!"

"Give me the Power Stone and you get you're daughter," the villain barganed.

Lacey looked at us, then Greywhack, then her daughter.

'_La negación es el camino de los ignorantes, el corazón es el camino del miedo. Siga su corazón y le fijarán libre_,' Star's words came back to mind. '_Denial is the road of the ignorant, heart is the road of the fearless. Follow your heart and you'll be set free_.'

Another time the Warden knows best. But, as I've learned from the Gum Royals, sometimes logic tromps emotions. If Greywhack was gonna pull her heartstrings to get what he wanted, it would be a trap made for all of us. Villains don't always hold through on their agreements, there's _always_ a catch or loop-hole around what we'd expect them to do. The Ice Kids were living proof of that. No, I needed to play his game to beat him at it.

"Lacey," I said slowly. "He's lying. When he gets the emerald, odds are he'll hold Malaya prisoner too. But we can help. Just, don't do it."

Lacey gave us another glance, and I thought we'd reached her. Yeah, we didn't. Lacey picked up a green trash unit and threw it at Greywhack. Malaya tried to run for us, but a fireball blinded her. Everyone except Malaya ducked as it came from behind us. Seeing that she wasn't moving, Flambo got some idea to jump in front of the fireball and take the hit.

Problem: _HE WASN'T FIREPROOF ANYMORE!_

Or…he wasn't at the time. Flambo's fur started glowing and he stood up on two legs. He shot his own fireball behind us and hit whatever threw the first one.

"Goin' after a kid," Flambo shook his head. "That's low."

"How the-"

"Hey," I scooped up Malaya onto my back while cutting off the others sentence. "Run now, questions later. Lacey, buy us some time."

Lacey charged forward at Greywhack who tried to dodge her attacks. Another fireball came from behind us but the Ice Kids stopped it with an Ice Ball. I ran for the exit Lacey was fighting Greywhack at, and narrowly made it out before he could grab either one of us. The others quickly caught on with Lacey stopping Greywhack at every point. We had to make sure that Malaya was safe for both her and her mother's sake.

Lacey though…we saw her get overtaken by a pack of Gemstone Warriors.

None of us let Malaya see what happened. We could just tell her later after we clean up the story a little. We retreated back to the Glorriors' base before anymore bad guys attacked us. When we walked in, Fionna and Finn were laying on the floor while Marshal and Marceline were laughing their heads off and the Glorriors looked weirded out at our usual amount crazy.

Just by walking in I could tell I missed something. And judging by how Fionna refused to look at anyone by hiding her face in her hat, the Vampires gripped their sides while leaning back to back on each other and the Glorriors' slight embarrassment to tell me what happened, I'd say I'd missed something big.

"I told you to watch them," Star glared at the hyena-like Vampires.

"You left…babysitting…to…us," Marceline asked through tears.

"What…did you…expect," Marshall joined her.

"Sadly, this," Star shook her head. "Shawn, you processing?"

"Yeah," I crossed my arms and looked between Finn and Fionna multiple times. "I think I know what happened."

"It wasn't-"

"Nope," I cut Fionna off.

"But I didn't-"

"Fionna Parton, we'll talk about it later young lady."

"You guys are funny," Malaya laughed.

I let Malaya climb down my back and stand. She hid behind me instantly looking at the door.

"Where's my mommy," she asked.

My eyes widened at the question. Ice Prince was about to tell her but I held his mouth shut. Fionna finally gave up her grip and embarrassment and switched to confusion. I knelt down and turned Malaya to face me.

"Malaya" I rubbed the back of my neck. "You're Mom is-"

"Shawn," Star interrupted me. "You might wanna see this."

"Just a second. Malaya, this isn't easy to say…but your mo-"

"She's right Wolfy," Marshall was amazed at something. "You don't wanna miss this."

"Hold on! Malaya, you're mother is-"

"**SHAWN**," my friends called.

"What do you waaaa…"

It really was a sight. The flower on Finn's arm grew into a tree that crashed through the ceiling. Finn started bawling out in fear, of his arm being fully taken off. It just kept growing and growing until it exploded forcing all of us around him to get propelled back into walls. We groaned in pain, me and Malaya sitting up and seeing Finn's arm covered in honey. Unfhe flicked it off on me. On the upside, Finn finally had his arm back.

'_Shame_,' I sighed. '_That telekinetic hand could've helped us with the Lich._'

Finn "woke up" from his episode with one of the biggets smile's I'd seen on him in a while.

"**I GOT MY ARM BACK**," he called.

"Whoopy," the others said monotoned compaired to Finn.

"Congrats Hero," I smiled at him. "But you are in so much trouble young man."

"What did I do?"

I raised and eyebrow at him making him laugh nervously.

"How much of that did you guys…"

"Enough to know you have a problem," I shook my head, looking between him and Fionna.

"Where's my _mommy_," Malaya demanded, tears beginning to form. "Why isn't she back yet?"

"Okay," I sighed. "Malaya, you're mother…"

Has been outmatched by a pack of Gemstone Warriors, Greywhack and some unknown fire shooter. _That_ would be enough to drive any normal kid into tears of laughter; but for Malaya, tears of sadness. The truth can be a dificult thing to process sometimes, so we lie to cover them. Sometimes for bad, but in very small ways, sometimes for good.

"…you're mother, i-is holding off the bad guys. She told me to look after you until she gets back."

"So," the eight year old sniffed, "she's coming back."

"Yep. She'll be fine. We just have to get you somewhere safe. Guys, we're going back to my house. Girls too. Something tells me we need to stay close together. Glorriors, thanks I guess for watching my buddy, but it's time we go."

"Go," the rhino guy asked. "Sorry but there is no "_go_". Once a Glorrior, always a Glorrior."

"Listen horn head, Finn is _my_ responsibility. He has a home and a job of his own. The longer he stays here, and with people like you, the worse it's gonna be later. If you wanna come, that's fine, but Finn is coming regardless of what you say."

"What about what _I_ think," Finn crossed his arms.

"Finn, I'm only gonna say this once, so listen and listen good. I am your leader while you are in my world. I'm responsible for what happens to you. Just like you're responsible for what happens to Ooo and Fionna is responsible for what happens to Aaa. You're also one of my best friends and if you thing I'm gonna leave you with the chump change champions here you got another thing coming. So get on the Vampire, we have to have a talk about what you did anyway."

Man my friends were driving my patients. I understood why Natasha was always so uptight. They're like a bunch of kids who never listen. But this time, Finn got on Marshall's back fast and without question or back talk. The Glorriors stood back as we were leaving, their leader giving me the worst death glare he could. I've seen worse.

"Enjoy you're new skylight," I smirked as we flew the hole in the roof.

"Geeze," Flambo laughed when we were far enough away. "If looks could kill, yousid be pushin' up daisys."

"Yeah," I smiled. "He's more pissed off than I am. Which reminds me. How many Finn?"

"How many what," he played.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Hero."

"I don't know wh-"

Yeah I had enough. I pushed him off Marshall's back and he fell towards the road. The others looked shocked but I shrugged it off. I took Oliver's Ice Wristbands and swirled the wind to bring Finn back up to us. The look on the Ice Kids and Flambo's faces was priceless. I gave Oliver back his tools and crossed my arms at Finn.

"How…many," I asked again.

"**FOUR OKAY**," Finn was horrified at my action.

"Five," I heard Fionna mumble.

"Which four," I asked him. "Truth or dive."

"Crab Princess, Lizard Princess, Muscle Princess and Lumpy Space Princess."

"You dawg," Marshall reached a fist out to Finn.

"Punch it and I push you over again."

That was enough motivation to keep Finn still, and Marshall grumbled in disapointment.

"Finn," I rubbed a hand through my hair, "what is wrong with you?"

"It's wasn't my fault," he defended himself. "It was Breezy the Bee."

"That make you weaker for listening to a bug," Jake laughed until a glare from Finn and I silenced him.

"Was this about you're arm," I asked Finn.

"The flower started drooping," Finn nodded.

You can never understand someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. And I was walking a marathon in my mom's. Before I left I got _just_ what I deserved...just what I _needed_…to get me to grow up. That moment was the time, for Malaya, for Finn, for the team, for myself. I gave Star a glance and she nodded at my decision.

"Now I commend you're heroics today," I laughed to myself. "But, there's still the matter of your punishment."

"A week," Finn was in my shoes at that moment.

"Try a month. _And_, no Comedy Central."

"What?! Why?"

"Part of you're punishment. But here's one that's permanent, no more watching MTV. You're getting too many bad ideas from that network. And give Jake the _Mind Games_ book you've been reading."

"No fair."

"Welcome to Earth."

I jumped onto Marcelline's back to settle the next part of the story.

"What happened," I questioned.

Marcelline burst into a fit of laugher just at the question.

"On second thought, don't know, don't wanna know, you're grounded."

"It was his fault," Fionna pointed to Finn.

"So the transition on you're face when he mentioned Crab Princess was him too?"

Fionna's face grew red.

"Uh-huh," I crossed my arms. "One week, no swords."

"No fair."

"You and Finn have gotta learn a lesson one way or another."

Fionna reluctantly handed her crystal sword over to me. She glared at me when I put it in my pack. A week was nothing compaired to Finn's punishment. She should consider herself lucky. And since I got those two out of the way, now I had to take care of Malaya. Another reason Fionna's punishment was easy, the eight year old might get the wrong idea for the future because of them. My parents made this look so easy.

A/N:

Teller16-djb: But there was one tiny problem Shawn didn't take into account.

Brenda: Which is?

Teller16-djb: Uh-uh. No spoilers. But I would suggest rereading chapter 11 of Into the Wormhole again. You'll understand as soon as Star does.

Brenda: What happened to Nova, Natasha, Sophie and Cy.

Teller16-djb: I could tell you, but you're not gonna like it. But I don't like going out on bad notes-

Brenda: Unless it's a cliffhanger.

Teller16-djb: -and since I have to take over for Clockwork for a bit longer, let's play the Ransome Game.

Brenda: Oh no.

Teller16-djb: We warned you. Naturally I wouldn't listen to Clockhead, but this story has less reviews than our first and one more than our second. So, yeah. Reviews=chapters. When we get the review, the chapter goes up that Friday. But feedback is always fun too. Critics are hilarious to me wether good or bad.

Teller16-djb & Brenda: See ya around!


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